Pop's Universe

I've Relocated Pop's Universe

2008-05-03T07:25:00.000-05:00

Howdy, friends.

I surely appreciate your attention to this blog, and hope you will update your links to point to my new place - Popgun’s World. Come see me!

-Pop

Please Think About It...

2008-04-26T05:59:00.000-05:00

Who are you going to vote for?

Decisions on such things should be determined purely by how well the candidate meets the criteria you hold to be critical to success on the job. The nice thing about the USA is that we can each have our own set of criteria that we feel this person should meet. Not only that, but the right to vote guarantees that we can apply our choices in a fair contest to choose our leaders. The body of opinion of the nation ultimately selects it’s leaders.

Note that in most of the world, this is not the case. We must be constantly vigilant against the temptation to vote without due consideration; failure to do so will eventually result in the loss of this basic right, and then it will take another revolution to regain it. Witness the current situation in Venezuela. Don’t think it can’t happen here. All it takes is enough voters guessing wrong.

If you examine the belief system of the candidate (insofar as you can determine what it is), and find distasteful, or dangerous, or misguided, or destructive, or poor morality, or foolish things; if you see evidence of lying, or concealing elements of the personal history; well, it is probably an intelligent exercise of your franchise to vote against that person.

If your examination of the belief system of that candidate finds instead that there is honesty, strength of character, wisdom, knowledge, and evidence of good decision making, perhaps that person is the one that deserves your vote.

It is your decision. Be careful, be wise. You can give away things very dear to you (and me) by an incorrect evaluation of the candidates. You should make sure that you are going to be willing to live with anything the candidate you select may decide to do. This is not a decision to be made lightly. And it may be that no candidate meets your criteria completely. So choose the best you can. If there’s nobody you want to vote for, there are surely those you want to vote against!

-Pop

Are You Prejudiced?

2008-04-25T20:29:00.000-05:00

Definition:
prejudice |ˈprejədəs|
noun
1 preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.

My thoughts on the matter:

If you decide not to vote for a candidate, just because that candidate is black, you are prejudiced.

If you decide instead to vote for a candidate, specifically because that candidate is black, you are just as prejudiced as the previous case.

If you decide not to vote for a candidate, just because that candidate is a woman, you are prejudiced.

If you decide instead to vote for a candidate, specifically because that candidate is a woman, you are just as prejudiced as the previous case.

If you decide not to vote for a candidate, just because that candidate is a <insert religion here>, you are prejudiced.

If you decide instead to vote for a candidate, just because that candidate is a <insert religion here>, you are just as prejudiced as the previous case.

Are you prejudiced?

-Pop

One More Mac Program

2008-04-25T14:46:00.000-05:00

Goodness, I forgot to mention Quicken 2007 for the Mac.

Quicken is probably the most capable accounting program for an individual that is available for the Mac. I rely on it constantly to keep a handle on my personal finances. That doesn’t mean that I’m happy with it; it’s just the best available in my opinion.

Transitioning from the Windows version, the Mac version (I’ll call them QW and QM for the duration) does not seem to be as polished as the QW. QM, plain and simple, has a non-standard interface on the Mac which makes it more difficult to figure out where to go to get things done. One feature in particular that I miss is the ability to sort the columns by amount, when you are balancing your checking account. On QW, I always did this and it made it much quicker to locate whichever line item I was reconciling at the time. Check numbers don’t get it for me because I do most of my bill paying electronically. So I hope they bring that feature back. The interface sucks, as is.

Having said that, I understand that they are about to come out with a new version, which is supposed to clean up the interface. When it arrives, I will gladly adopt it on the off chance that they did improve on it.

For all its warts, I have to state that I have lost no data and had no problems with the actual functioning of the program. Which is why I still use it. But it could be vastly better than it is.

Three Stars for the crappy interface. Add a half a star because it does, after all, work. http://www.quicken.com/ for about $70.

-Pop

My Other Eye...

2008-04-25T14:40:00.000-05:00

Howdy.

My right eye was operated on day before yesterday, and things seem to be pretty nominal. Same lens replacement as my left eye. This one is a bit more problematic than my left eye was, mainly because the doctor made an extra incision to change the shape of parts of the eye, to help control astigmatism. This made it feel like it was full of sandpaper the last two days, but today it is much better on that score. Vision in that eye is improving, as near as I can judge, on about the same curve of progress the left eye did.

Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I drove a car without wearing glasses. Didn’t kill anybody, either.

Very cool.

-Pop

Mac Software Roundup

2008-04-20T20:28:00.000-05:00

At this writing, I’ve been using a MacBook Pro for about 15 months. Being the type of person I am, I constantly search for more efficient ways to do anything, and in the world of computers, I try a lot of software. Whiz-bang doesn’t do it for me, unless the whiz-bang in question increases my efficiency in some way. This document is a list of the software I have purchased and tried on the Mac, along with a short review of each program. I have purchased a license for each non-free program in this review. This is not an in-depth review. Rather, it is my subjective take on each program, along with a bit of background. Have fun!
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1Password: One of the first programs I bought after acquiring my Mac was 1Password. 1Password is a utility for keeping up with all your passwords and logins, and can be used to fill in forms on websites, including your credit card and personal information if you wish. I knew that I would need such a utility, and 1Password fills the bill wonderfully. It works unobtrusively, and you only need to remember one password. It is possible to set up web links in your browser to automatically find and log in to a website. You enter your master password once in a session, and it does the rest. 1Password is available from http://agilewebsolutions.com/ and costs $34.95 for a single-user license. Updates are fairly frequent, and the developers are quick to update it when OS X changes in a way that would affect it. I still rely on it daily. Five stars.
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AppZapper: an uninstall utility for the Mac (OS X). When you uninstall a program by dragging it’s icon to the trash, sometimes settings and other files are left on your disk. When you run AppZapper, it opens a small window and invites you to drag any program icon to it’s drop zone; then it finds the extraneous files, and shows you what it is going to delete if desired. It works as advertised. Not a big deal, but nice to have for $12.95. You can find it at www.appzapper.com. Five stars.
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Bento: Bento is a simple database program for people who don’t need the power of FileMaker. It works as advertised, is easy to use and learn, and I use it frequently in my work to keep up with most anything that needs a list. You can get it at www.filemaker.com for $49 for a single user license. I’ve suffered no failures of any sort. Printing support is pretty much a screen print, so it’s not great at generating reports; and export capabilities are pretty limited. It is a flat file database within which you can create collections, so if you need relational capabilities, go elsewhere. I give it 4 stars, deducting one due to the lack of report generating capability.
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DevonThink Pro: a personal information manager or database program. It is very capable; and I still use it for random data storage of information I might need on an infrequent basis. For instance, I frequently create a data item to hold the text of confirmation emails when I purchase something online. I like the way search displays results, and it is capable of searching inside PDF files. I have suffered no failures or problems. Having said all that, I don’t much care for the user interface, which I found confusing, and it has a bit of a learning curve; I don’t use this program frequently. You can get it at www.devon-technologies.com for about $79. I bought the Pro Office version for about $150.
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Ecto: Ecto is used to manage and upload blog postings. You can get it at http://infinite-sushi.com/software/ecto/ and it costs $17.95. I am not currently using this program (see MacJournal) but it does a good job and works as advertised. It makes it easy to post entries or revisions. One thing it doesn’t do is allow you to assign categories or topics to posts that show up on Blogspot, so if you want to do that you have to go in and add them later. I used Ecto for many months, before switching to MacJournal because I could combine my blogging and personal journal in that program. Ecto deserves 4 stars. It does everything it says it will do but needs to be able to handle categories.
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Google Earth: Google Earth is just about the coolest program you can download for free, and there are Windows and Mac versions available. It is a wonderful program that allows you to zoom around looking at the world in satellite photos with optional map information superimposed. Nifty zoom effects take you from one place to another, and you can search for an address or location and go directly to it. You can ‘tilt’ the display or look straight down at it. This is lots of fun - you will find geographical features right around your own home that you didn’t know were there. It can be useful, too; at work we sometimes use it to identify a field location for an employee who needs to find a job site. Recommended. Five Stars. Go to http://earth.google.com/
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IWork 08 is Apple’s office suite. For what you get, it’s a real bargain. I use Pages and Numbers fairly frequently, but have not needed Keynote. Pages is a pretty decent word processor, but I haven’t really stretched it’s legs. I use it for an occasional letter or fax, but so far nothing very lengthy. Also, it can open Microsoft Word’s DOC files, so far without fail. It works well for what I have done with it, and within those limits, there’s not much of a learning curve. Numbers is the spreadsheet program. It can load the majority of Excel spreadsheets except when they are protected, but there are some interesting side effects sometimes. In general, results are good, but don’t expect a perfect translation. One feature that I really like about Numbers is its ability to have multiple spreadsheets on the same page. This makes laying out complex forms a snap. In this one thing it is really great; in most other areas, Excel gets the edge in terms of ease of use. Having said that, it’s worth it to me to use Numbers just to keep from buying a Microsoft product. Especially when you compare prices. IWork 08 - $79 - directly from Apple. Four stars.
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Yojimbo: Yojimbo is a simple flat-file database that can accommodate many different kinds of information. If you don’t need much complexity, Yojimbo is a good program. You can create folders to put data in, but only one level deep - no nested folders. This limits its utility. In my day job, I track several projects at a time, and as one is completed new projects are started. The inability of Yojimbo to create sub-folders means that everything is in one long list of folders. Other than this, Yojimbo is a great program and may be just what you need. I still use it to capture PDF files which I create anytime I’m printing a receipt or something - Yojimbo has a good unobtrusive capture facility. Four stars. You can get it at http://www.bbedit.com/products/yojimbo/index.shtml and it costs $39. I wound up using SOHO Notes to do the job I bought Yojimbo to do; it does support nested folders.
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Journier: a pretty nice personal journal program. One of the things I like about it is the ability to put pictures in your journal. If you’re creating a journal that your kids will someday read, this is a pretty good program to use. However, I migrated my journal to MacJournal and no longer use Journier. This is not the fault of the program; it does a good job. Five stars. You can get it for $34.95 at http://journler.com/.
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LaunchBar: This is the handiest program launcher I’ve found. Besides launching programs, it can find files and contacts on your computer; you can drill down to your boss’s phone number, for instance. Hitting enter on an email launches an email to that contact; hitting enter on a phone number shows it in large type; absolutely excellent for quick access to this type of info, or to launch a program. You can get it at http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/index.html and it costs $39. Highly recommended - five stars.
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MacJournal: This is my current favorite journal keeper and blog maintenance software. I’ve been using it a couple of months, and so far haven’t had any problems. It makes it easy to post to blogspot, and keep my personal journal in the same program. It has a nifty full-screen mode, as well. Five stars. http://www.marinersoftware.com/ for $34.95 download.
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MailSteward: a utility to archive all your email in a separate database. It works well with Mail, and can archive everything, or just the mailboxes or accounts you want. It has excellent search capability. If you worry about mail losing things over a long period of time, this is a good way to archive email. I’ve only been using it about a week, but so far it’s worked perfectly. Five stars. You can get it at http://mailsteward.com/ for $49.95.
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Notebook, from Circus Ponies, is one of the first personal information programs I bought for the Mac. It’s a great idea, but I don’t use it much anymore because I find the interface a bit clumsy for the type of information I mostly work with. It would be great for anything you’d keep in a notebook, but for keeping up with project data I find a more free-form method of storage works better for me. Four stars. You can get it at http://www.circusponies.com/ for $49.95.
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Omnifocus is an excellent program for task management. It is built around the Getting Things Done method, and it actually does work well if you use that methodology. I bought a copy and used it for a while, and I may go back to it in the future. My problem is not with the program - it’s just that I’ve not head great success adapting to the methodology, being set in my ways. If you use the Getting Things Done method, this is recommended. Four stars. You can get it at http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/ for $79.95.
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Parallels Desktop - virtual machine software for the Mac. I’m staying away from Windows as much as I can, but sometimes my work requires me to use specific software that isn’t available (directly) on the Mac. Parallels Desktop does an amazing job of allowing me to use my Mac instead of shifting to a Windows machine. I have Vista Business installed in a virtual machine in Parallels. Inside of that, I have certain engineering software installed, including my CAD software, Solid Edge; and I presently do all my CAD work in the virtual machine. I also do Windows program development using Delphi in that environment, for company projects which I maintain. It is amazing that Parallels is efficient enough to allow the use of this type of software. A major benefit is the ability to back up the entire virtual machine to offline storage- if Windows gets a virus, I just replace the virtual machine with the latest backup. Cool stuff. Five Stars. http://www.parallels.com/ for $79. This program made it practical for me to move to the Mac.
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Personal Brain is a personal information manager that is unique in its interface. Basically, you create thoughts which can hold text, or files. You create links to these thoughts. The thoughts float in space on the screen, with lines drawn between them representing the links. The relations you create are the real power of the program. For instance, I have a thought that is titled ‘where to get’ with many categories of purchased items linked below it. Click on one of them, for instance ‘flanges’ and see links to all the vendors from which I might purchase ‘flanges’. This works really well, and this is my primary management tool for my work. This is a very powerful program, and there are versions for the Mac and for Windows. Additionally, you can export your ‘brain’ to your network server and share it with your colleagues. Five Stars, highly recommended. You can get it at http://www.thebrain.com/ for FREE. THe paid version that I bought is $249.95 and I have found it well worth it.
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Quicksilver is similar to LaunchBar in terms of what it can do, but it can do more. Besides being a launcher and information finder, it is possible to process information in interesting ways using QuickSilver. I tried it, but went back to LaunchBar because I just find it more comfortable to use. Quicksilver has a steep learning curve. There probably is a real payoff there, but I didn’t use the advanced features often enough to set them in my memory; so I went back to LanchBar. QuickSilver is free, and you can get it at http://www.blacktree.com/ . If you can get past the learning curve, there’s something powerful there.
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Scrivener. Well, I’m composing this in Scrivener; what can I say? I haven’t tried every word processing program out there, but Scrivener has a unique (in my experience) way of allowing you to compose a complex document and put it all together. You don’t actually work with the formatting; instead, you create the parts of your document, pulling them in to the final document in any order you want. For instance, in this document, I have a sub-document for each program in the review. You don’t have to worry about formatting at all. When you’re done, you export your document to whatever other word processor you want to use for final formatting. This isn’t for jotting down notes or lists; this is for creating complex documents or screenplays, etc. I really like the approach, and it works well for me, for a posting such as the one you are reading. Recommended. Five Stars. You can get it at http://www.literatureandlatte.com/ for $39.95. I like it.
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SOHO Notes: SOHO Notes is a great note-taking application, and you can also store many types of files in it.. If you need a good, quick note taker, this will do the job. Very similar to Yojimbo, except it does support nested folders, a feature I find invaluable in my daily work. Recommended, I use it frequently. Five Stars. You can get it for $39.99 at http://www.chronosnet.com/ .
I don’t particularly recommend the related Organizer package - although it does have features to like, I find it clumsy and it doesn’t add that much to iCal and Address Book.
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TypeIt4Me is a nice little utility that allows you to create boilerplate, basically any text that you find yourself typing over and over. It works as advertised, but I’m about to remove it from my system because I really don’t use it much. I type so fast that by the time I remember that I have an entry in TypeIt4Me, I’ve already typed whatever it was. Since I only actually use it once or twice a week, I don’t see the need for it on my system. However, I do recommend it for you if you do a lot of repetitive typing, or if you think it would speed up your effective typing. It does work well as it is intended to work. Four stars. http://ettoresoftware.com/ for $27.
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VoodooPad is a program I purchased because I got interested in Wicki systems, or hypertext personal information systems. It’s an interesting program, and I occasionally go back to fool around with it. It could be used to set up a linked database of pretty much everything you know, if you take the time to create it. I am still interested in this way of getting at information, but I’m not actively using VoodooPad at this time. It exports to HTML, too, which might be useful. It is capable of doing the sort of thing I’m using Personal Brain for, but without the global view of the linkages that program gives you. It works well, so it gets four stars. You can get it at http://flyingmeat.com/voodoopad/ for about $30.
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In conclusion, there is a lot of really good software out there for the Mac. I tend to specialize in the sort of programs that will help me do my job better, and many of them are represented here. One thing I have noticed; generally speaking, Windows software is way more expensive than equivalent Mac software.

-Pop

I'd of Said it, But...

2008-04-17T08:28:00.000-05:00

This guy said it so well.

Unbelievable how arrogant these people are.

-Pop

The Road to Heaven

2008-04-16T08:34:00.000-05:00

The road to Heaven is paved by prayers - for other people.

-Pop

Presidential Candidates

2008-04-13T06:26:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: As you probably already know, I lean a bit right of center in my core beliefs.

This is actually pretty fascinating to watch, if you pay attention.

First, the Democrats got control of both the Senate and the House in the last election. They were euphoric with this victory for a while, and did get some bills passed. But then they turned out to be massively, ludicrously ineffective in producing the most significant results they had promised their backers. In particular, they announced failure in Iraq a wee bit prematurely. And they had promised to force President Bush to pull the troops out, at which they totally failed. They have achieved little but vitriol in this term. They nearly caused major problems for our military in a theater of war, by balking at the financing. So the Democratic Party has not shown much competence or effectiveness while in office so far.

Now, the Democrats have Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama vying for the candidacy for President of the United States. They hope to put one of these two people into that office.

Hillary Clinton, it has become apparent, lies so glibly and frequently that it may be pathological. And so does her husband, who perjured himself under oath while a sitting president. They both have a sort of reality distortion field around them. Hillary’s flat-out pack of lies turns into ‘misspoke’. And Bill “depends on what you mean by ‘is’“. Hillary wants you to think that her experience as first lady translates into real diplomatic experience, when that participation did not include any real negotiating.

Barack Obama, it has become apparent, does not have any real understanding of the core beliefs of the rest of us. He simply doesn’t have the background. He displays a certain arrogance, as does his wife; they are both elitist, just as Hillary says. Additionally, he apparently stands by the beliefs of his former pastor, who is racist and anti-American, and preached hate from the pulpit. Obama has run on a platform of rhetoric, without supplying much in the way of details. He has no experience with foreign diplomacy, and no military experience at all. He’s a college kid with no real-world experience.

Both of these people have a huge lack of experience. Neither has any military experience; neither has any real diplomatic experience. Both have made huge promises that neither can deliver, particularly promising jobs and wealth in states that are presently economically depressed - promises made to get votes. Both are running on a platform of change, but without laying out details. Both want universal health care, a wonderful idea on the face of it - but somebody has to pay for that. Ultimately, the individual tax-payer will bear this cost, and it won’t be cheap.

The Democrats are in trouble. The party has chosen it’s candidates poorly, and their Democratic Congress hasn’t done so well either.

Compare them to Republican John McCain, who does have real military and diplomatic experience; is a bona-fide war hero; suffered real torture as a prisoner of war for 5 1/2 years, refusing to leave ahead of others who had been there longer. He went into politics in the early 80’s, gaining more experience both Democrats lack. So far as I am aware, the press hasn’t caught him in a lie, although he has made a gaffe or two. He is willing to admit if he doesn’t know all about a subject (the economy), which I find refreshing. He is against pork-barrel spending, and has demonstrated this by his actions, not just words.

John McCain appears to be an honorable man, and capable as well.

This is how it looks from where I’m sitting. Even though I lean a bit right, I’ve tried to describe here exactly what I see, insofar as it is possible to be unbiased. It looks to me like, ignoring which party they belong to, a rational person would pick McCain.

So how many people will choose the next president based on gender, or color, or political party, rather than character and experience?

-Pop

On Hold for Customer "Service"...

2008-04-07T09:21:00.000-05:00

I called a certain credit card company to discuss a discrepancy in a bill this morning. After listening to a seemingly endless series of ‘press 4 for this thing’ or ‘press 5 for that thing’ I finally got to the fourth level down, I got to the ‘press 6 to talk to a customer service representative’ which I did. That was the very last option in the menu tree.

Then I waited. And waited. Etcetera. I began to need to go to the bathroom. Pressure was building up. And I waited. And - finally - after about half an hour - a real live human got on the phone!

I discussed my business with her, and she was very helpful. Thank you, Ma’am.

This is “Customer Service” in the United States, today.

Their phone system is specifically designed to discourage you from actually talking to a human. Their goal is for you (the customer) to get frustrated and give up. That’s because they have to pay someone to provide ‘customer service’, and they don’t want to pay any more ‘customer service representatives’ than they have to. They don’t actually care if they have happy customers. I have never called customer service (since the advent of telephone answering computer systems) and had the option of talking to a real live human on the first level of menus.

This says something about our society. I’m not sure just exactly what, but I am sure it isn’t good.

This is right up there with the check-out lanes at Walmart and other similar retailers. When they put in a new Walmart in our town, I looked at the seemingly endless row of check-out stands and thought happily that we would never have to wait in line again!

To my disappointment (but not surprise), Walmart is careful to schedule just enough check-out personnel so that your average wait is 20 minutes. I would lay odds that they have done time studies and found that to be the optimum cost / benefit ratio to maximize profit vs number of cashiers they have to pay vs the level of aggravation customers will withstand and still keep coming back.

I’d rather go somewhere else, and pay more, to avoid the lines. Except - Walmart is the only place you can go and buy groceries, toilet paper, a chain saw, and DVD’s with only one stop. So what do you do? Practically speaking, I have to put up with it, but I don’t have to like it - and I don’t.

-Pop, curmudgeon in training...

A Beautiful Day

2008-04-06T19:29:00.000-05:00

Today is my youngest son’s birthday. We wish he was here, but life is how it is, not always how you wish it.

Today I saw the season’s first hummingbird and bumblebee, too.

I also restarted my exercise regimen - recumbent exercise bicycle.

This morning, I used a weed-burner (flame thrower) to try to burn an old oak log on my property. I’ve been trying to burn this log for years. No joy, I left the burner applied to the same spot of the trunk for half an hour, and still couldn’t get it to ignite.

Not much else going on today. But it was a pretty one. Spent a fair amount of time sitting on the front porch with my feet propped up, reading a book, and watching the cars go by on the highway. Just like my Pop used to do. I remember him fondly.

God is good.

-Pop

Cataract update

2008-04-02T13:39:00.000-05:00

The ReZoom lens in my left eye is working splendidly. I have excellent distance and middle distance vision (as near as I can tell with the other eye closed), but I still can’t reliably read a book in my hand. It is improving some every day, though. A few days ago, I couldn’t read with it at all. So I’m happy. It is possible I’ll end of needing reading glasses, but maybe not.

One of the really cool things about this is the color shift. For the first time, I realize the walls in my office are not shaded a dingy yellow - they’re white! It’s not a big huge difference, but I had not realized that the cataracts were already affecting my vision.

I am eager to get the other eye done.

-Pop

Cataract Surgery

2008-03-26T19:21:00.000-05:00

Today was the day! I had my left eye cataract surgery today. Scary as it is, I’d take this over going to the dentist.

After the paperwork was done, I sat down in a comfortable chair and a nurse administered something like nine different eye drops while she asked me some questions. This nurse also set up an IV type insert on my left hand, and gave me a shot to relax me. Then, I was put on a gurney, where I was hooked up to three of those heart monitor leads, a blood-oxygen clip-on monitor, and a blood pressure cuff. And I got some more drops in my eye. And another shot into the IV insert.

The doctor was supervising, and he did some sort of marks around my eye which he explained was due to the effect astigmatism has on the insertion point. Normally they would make the incision in the eye, directly to the side. In my case, that point was about 45 degrees toward the top of my head.

Then they wheeled me into another room, which was the operating room. I never saw any of this room except the ceiling and a complex piece of equipment hanging therefrom. They got everything situated the way they wanted it, the machine was brought into place over my eye, and the work began.

Something was placed over my eye-socket that pretty much fit all around it. I saw random colors, mostly blue I think, and once I saw something that looked like a bit of oil floating in water. This whole process probably didn’t take ten minutes, but of course I don’t really know the exact time. The stuff they shot into me had me fairly groggy, but I was awake throughout.

When it was over, they unhooked me from everything, sat me in a chair, invited my wife in, and explained what we needed to know about follow-up care. I get to take three different eye-drops for a few days, and go see the doctor tomorrow morning for the follow-up visit. And we went home.

At first, vision in that eye was cloudy and blurry. As the day has proceeded, it gradually has improved, but it still isn’t clear. Also, ten hours after surgery, my eye is still dilated. The doctor tells me that these things are normal.

The lens which was inserted is a ReZoom lens. The published statements about this lens is that about 92% of patients never need to use glasses again. However, vision with these can take a couple of months to get to it’s best. Besides loosing the cataracts, that’s what I’m after. So far, I’m pleased.

They’ll do the other eye on April 23.

I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

-Pop

Clinton's Creative Expression

2008-03-24T20:22:00.000-05:00

Hillary “misspoke” with the sniper fire remark.

“That depends on what you mean by ‘is’”. -President Clinton

Do you begin to see a trend, here?

-Pop

Hate from the Pulpit

2008-03-21T08:20:00.000-05:00

As a general comment on all this racist stuff with Obama’s preacher, and any other supposedly Christian preacher that preaches in that style, I have this to say:

Jesus never preached hate. Not once.

I strongly suggest that any preacher that does preach hate is not filled with the Holy Spirit, nor is he following the example of Jesus.

15"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' - The Holy Bible - Matthew 7:15-23

Emphasis mine. That pretty much sums it up. Reverend Wright is walking down a dangerous path, as are many, many other pastors in this world.

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Spring!

2008-03-20T21:41:00.000-05:00

Today, the oak trees here in East Texas are blooming. In just a couple of days, all the bare limbs will be gone and all the trees will have shiny new green leaves.

Beautiful.

Mowed the yard for the first time this year, this afternoon.

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Political Scandals

2008-03-13T14:26:00.000-05:00

I’ve been seeing all this about the Spitzer / hooker incident, and it got me to wondering what the scorecard is for Democrats vs Republicans on scandal. There’s a good article on Wikipedia here. I added up the Democrats and the Republicans that got caught being involved in sexual scandals. I get Democrats 29, Republicans 27.

That’s so close that either party should be careful about flinging stones at the other side.

And now we know without any doubt whatever that Washington really is full of scoundrels!

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Easter Eggs

2008-03-11T20:34:00.000-05:00

I was in Wal-Mart the other day, and I came across something I’d never seen before: Easter egg color kits - in camo.

That’s right, friends, you can now make it nearly impossible for your young child to find their eggs!

What a concept!

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Everybody Look the Other Way!

2008-03-07T19:05:00.000-06:00

“When good men stand by and do nothing, evil prevails.”

I’m sure this is a (mis)quote but I cannot find the source to give reference or to check it.

I have witnessed a very peculiar thing, and been a part of it. There are many documented cases of muggings, murder, rape, etc happening in the presence of bystanders, who did nothing to help. I don’t understand the psychology of this, but it is clear that it does happen, and frequently.

Over the past year, I have documented and observed a number of things at my church that disturb me. I won’t go into the details of that here; but most of it concerned the pastor, who has been there around two years now. These issues are to the extent that I began to wonder if the pastor was actually a Christian; and at that point, I quit supporting the church with money or attendance.

On several occasions I had wanted to confront the pastor about these things, but family and friends advised me not to do so.

About a week ago, this came to a head. Correspondence between myself and the pastor resulted in setting up a meeting to discuss the issues I had discovered (the details of which he remains ignorant). He and a deacon were to come to my home so we could go over these things and try to make peace.

In the days before the scheduled visit, I prepared detailed notes of the issues to be discussed. I sent early copies to certain individuals that I trust, including my wife.

All agree that the documentation is good, the issues are real, and every one of these people think I am in the right.

But almost all of them advised me to drop it and not have the meeting. < EDIT 3/27/08: two of my friends pointed out that they did not advise me to drop it.>

I don’t understand this culture of silence, that says ‘thou shall not confront the pastor’. I simply do not understand why, knowing someone in authority is misusing that authority, he should not be confronted. I mean, the man is an employee, and I pay his salary, and I have a problem with his job performance. I don’t get it. However, when that many people tell me not to do something, I do listen, not being an idiot. They’re bound to know something I don’t.

So I called off the meeting, told the preacher that I would have no further communication with him, and it’s over for good. I will now leave that church and not go back until that pastor has gone.

And the man is still in his position, and he will continue to do the things he’s been doing, and nobody will call him on it. And, in my opinion, he is going to eventually destroy that church.

Beats me. It feels like watching somebody getting mugged. I have felt for months that I should take action to try to stop this misbehavior, or at least make sure the pastor is actually aware of what he is doing. But universally, every person I’ve talked to about this tells me to let it go. And so I’m done with it.

On the advice of good people, I will stand by and do nothing.

But I just don’t get it. And I don’t like it.

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Democrats Have a Little Trouble

2008-03-07T06:29:00.000-06:00

It’s fascinating to me that the Democratic party seems to be so incompetent that they cannot even run a smooth primary. I seriously fear for our country if this bunch actually gets in control.

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When Good Men do Nothing

2008-03-06T06:26:00.000-06:00

Evil flourishes when good men stand by and do nothing.

I’m seeing it happen at my church. What a tragedy.

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The Most Artistic Way to Lie

2008-03-02T08:17:00.000-06:00

From Time Enough For Love by Robert A. Heinlein - the two most artistic ways to tell a lie.

“It’s not enough to be able to lie with a straight face; anybody with enough gall to raise on a busted flush can do that. The first way to lie artistically is to tell the truth - but not all of it. The second way involves telling the truth, too, but is harder: Tell the exact truth and maybe all of it .. but tell it so unconvincingly that your listener is sure you are lying.”

Politicians, take note...

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Israel vs Palestine

2008-03-02T06:48:00.000-06:00

In the news stories you see Palestinians being quoted as complaining about ‘Israel’s crimes’ and other similar statements. It amazes me that 1) they can say it with a straight face and 2) apparently, a large part of the world believes it.

From what I have read, Palestinians fired the first rocket of this exchange. Israel has just as much right to defend itself against an attack on its territory as any other country - or individual for that matter.

The Palestinians want to lob rockets at random over into Israel, at non-military areas, and then have the gall to act surprised and indignant at what happens next. If you are stupid enough to lob rocks at a hornet nest, you deserve what happens to you.

The terrible, awful thing about it is that innocents are killed. But the reason they are in the line of fire is that those civilians permit the terrorists to set up rocket-launching sites in their midst. If those cowardly terrorists cared about those civilians they would not use them as human shields and then act indignant when civilians get caught in the cross-fire.

The UN chief has urged Israel to show restraint. I wonder if he urged Palestine to show restraint?

If, for instance, Mexican militant organizations started lobbing missiles over into Texas, how long do you think it would take the US to remove the threat? Shucks, if the US government failed to correct the situation, Texas would on its own.

Every individual and every country has the right to self defense.

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The Eyes Have It part 2

2008-02-29T16:14:00.000-06:00

I’m on for the lens replacement surgery. My left eye will be March 26; my right eye will be April 23. I wish it was closer together, but that’s the way it came out.

I’ll keep you posted on what it’s like.

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The Eyes Have It...

2008-02-18T17:54:00.000-06:00

Today I went to my regular optometrist to get my regularly scheduled eye exam. He confirmed that I do have the early stages of cataracts which I mentioned earlier. He tells me that I probably have around ten years before it’s a serious problem. My eyes are otherwise very healthy, with no sign of any other problem. He feels that now’s the time, from a medical standpoint.

So now I have a choice: buy new glasses and wait on the lens replacement, or go ahead and do it now. I think It’s going to be sooner rather than later. For those of you who don’t know, they can now correct your vision in the course of doing the lens replacement. This is very attractive to me. On the other hand, it will cost about as much as my next motorcycle would.

But I really, really want to throw away my glasses. I’ve been wearing them for 44 years, and in my current state I have to swap from regular to computer glasses probably 20 times a day. Which I hate.

Decisions, decisions... What would YOU do?

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And Yet Another Gun-Free Zone Rampage...

2008-02-16T07:26:00.000-06:00

Howdy, everybody.

Gun free zones DON’T WORK. If ONE person in the auditorium in Illinois had been armed, it is very likely the death toll would have been much less. The Munchkin Wrangler says it very well.

How many more people will die because of this plain-stupid idea that a law declaring an area to be a gun-free zone will actually make it so?

God protect us from our law-makers! They disarm us, but they don’t protect us.

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Hillary...

2008-02-04T17:45:00.000-06:00

Apparently, Hillary has taught herself to cry at will...

How transparent!! And, come on - wimpy! Do you Democrats really want the President of the United States to be someone that either A) so transparently and obviously tries to manipulate you, or B) is so weak as to be reduced to tears on national TV? Twice??

I don’t believe for a moment that ANY foreign government would take Hillary seriously after this. Nor should they! What a joke!

If Hillary really is allowing the campaign pressure to get to her, than she most certainly is not presidential material. The pressure of being president has got to be among the most high-pressure jobs in the world!

Unbelievable!!

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Alcoholism

2008-02-03T08:15:00.000-06:00

Howdy;

This morning, I heard alcoholism referred to as a ‘disease’ on the radio. So I looked up the definition of ‘disease’, and I found, to my surprise, that alcoholism could possibly fall within the definition.

I always thought that a disease was a sickness you get from an infectious agent of some kind.

I want to be perfectly clear here: Alcoholism is something you do to yourself, voluntarily; and as such, it does NOT deserve the sympathy that should be reserved for the sick. I reserve my sympathy for the families and coworkers of the alcoholic; but I spare none for the alcoholic himself.

I’ve seen up close and personal the things that go on in the families of an alcoholic - and I have no sympathy at all for the alcoholic.

If you feel that you need to drink, for whatever reason, be aware that you are making a choice that can and will affect everyone around you, most especially those who love you. If you become an alcoholic as a result of your behavior, you WILL put all those you love through hell. So don’t.

This exact same sentiment applies to doing recreational drugs of any sort, as well.

Don’t go there!

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Democrats vs Republicans

2008-02-01T20:33:00.000-06:00

Frankly, I’m getting tired of thinking about it. But I do have some opinions, and I’m entitled to mine just as you are yours. Here’s what I think:

Democrats and the far left are anti-second amendment. It bothers me that they apparently do not believe that I can be trusted not to go on a shooting spree. At root, the Democrats do not believe that the common, law abiding person has the self discipline to handle owning and carrying guns. Well, frankly, I do have that self discipline, and I resent the implication that I can’t be trusted. Or maybe they’re afraid of us.

Republicans, on the other hand, are pro second amendment. Republicans trust me with a gun. They encourage me to defend my family, myself, and those needing protection around me. I like that.

I hear that the Democrats want ‘socialized medicine’.

Now, I know that our medical system is broken. Part of this is that it just isn’t as simple as it needs to be. A hundred years ago, you go to your doctor; you get treated; you pay the doc; minimum money spent. Today, though - you, or somebody, pays insurance premiums continuously. You get sick, you go to your doctor; you get treated; someone gets paid to fill out forms and insurance gets filed; you still pay the doctor a copay, usually; the insurance company pays some or most of your bill. But think about this - the insurance company is making money doing this. All the employees required to do all that paperwork, and all those lawyers, and lawsuits, and all those insurance executives, are living off of your insurance premiums, ultimately. In the end, the cost of medical care is inflated by the cost of the entire insurance industry. What the heck are we paying all those people for?

Back to HillaryCare and it’s variations from the Democrats. They want to require everyone to have insurance. A lot of people find that attractive, Shucks, I find it attractive, too. But, who is going to pay for it? If we pay for it in taxes or any scheme that evenly distributes the costs of the insurance, isn’t that unfairly penalizing healthy people? I guess maybe the justification is that we all benefit from a healthy society. Pretty hard to quantify the benefit of a healthy society to me, though. And, do you spend a million dollars to keep somebody alive another month? Who decides? Pretty soon these people will begin thinking that benefits should only be applied to the non-hopeless cases, to cut costs. Shortly after that, somebody will introduce the idea of euthanasia of old people. And so on. I think socialized medicine may be a very slippery slope, and the individual will no longer have any control over it. Mother Hillary will take care of You!

From the debates a couple of nights ago, most of the current plans involve requiring mandatory insurance. There seem to be different ways of paying for it, but no matter how you slice it, in the long run we the people will foot the bill. If we’re going to foot the bill anyway, why don’t we just axe the entire insurance industry and save all that overhead cost? But I can’t see this happening - the insurance industry spends a LOT of money in Washington. YOUR money. And both the leading Democratic candidates have already said they will raise taxes. Bend over, here it comes!

What do the Republicans say? Well, I don’t think anything much will change on that score. Listening to the debate, I think they want to improve the system, but they say that it won’t be mandatory; so at least we’ll have some choice, something the Democrats won’t give us. I think Republicans probably make better neighbors than Democrats; they don’t seem to get in your business quite as much.

I kind of like Robert A. Heinlein’s idea, mentioned in his novel “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”, that if you need insurance, you find a bookie and place a bet - on the progression of your health, for instance. It’d be a heck of a lot simpler than what we do now.

in general, Democrats want more government control of individuals and individual rights. This is the same thing any dictator wants, and that comparison makes me nervous. Once you give them that control, it will take revolution to get it back.

In general, the Republicans want to promote capitalism, a system that has it’s good side and it’s dark side, but it does seem to work pretty well. People that are willing to get out and work, and think about what they’re doing, will do well with the Republicans, People who want the government to spoon-feed them will lean towards the Democrats.

Personally, I don’t want or need the government in my business any more than necessary for the defense of the country as a whole. This causes me to lean towards the Republicans.

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Wireless Internet Goodness for the Mac

2008-01-26T08:02:00.000-06:00

Howdy, Everybody;

Yesterday, I bought the Alltel branded version of the UTStarcom UM150 wireless modem, and added that line to my cellular account. Unlimited access.

After some bobbles because the product was new to the sales staff, it is now working well; using www.internetfrog.com broadband test to check performance, I’ve seen download speeds as low as 400 kbps and as high as 950 kpps, which is respectable. These numbers are true both at my office and at my home.

The significance is that out where I live, up until this became available the ONLY option for broadband was satellite internet. Where I live there is no DSL, no Cable, no fiber-optic lines. Over the years, I have tried Starband, and Hughesnet (formerly Direcway), both satellite providers. Both are adequate but not great. Their main selling point is that they work, but frequently performance is not as advertised, and, frankly, service generally sucks. As of this morning, the download speed on the satellite was OK but the upload speed was about 1/4 the advertised speed.

Now I have a different option. It’s working well so far, and compatible with the Macbook Pro. I may replace the satellite system with one of these. A little gadget about the size of a pocket knife that can replace a satellite dish on a pole, about 120 feet of wire, and a modem/router about the size of a ring binder. With comparable performance. For about $10 a month less. And it’s portable. I’ve also noticed the lack of latency you get with satellite; with satellite you actually have to factor in the speed of light to the geostationary satellite, in both directions. The signal travels 50,000 miles minimum even if you’re only sending an email next door. So response on the cellular system is a bit snappier.

So far, I’m impressed. We’ll see how it goes.

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To My Church

2008-01-25T08:45:00.000-06:00

You can fool all of the people some of the time;
and you can fool some of the people all the time;
But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

We know what you’re up to.

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The Nature of a Lie

2008-01-23T07:53:00.001-06:00

Howdy, friends;

The Center for Public Integrity has published a supposedly unbiased report that George Bush and the Bush administration lied to the public hundreds of times about WMD's and related subjects in Iraq prior to the war.

The Center for Public Integrity is funded by George Soros and others. You can read about their funding at Captain's Quarters. They are hardly unbiased, as you will see in that article. If you haven't heard about George Soros, you need to look into it - he is anti-everything American, pretty much.

Who's lying, here? An organization that is deceptive from the word go (by not admitting their funding, and pretending to be unbiased) is trying to push it's own political agenda, and they are so far left that they're up to their neck in the Pacific.

I've always believed that to lie implies conscious intent to tell an untruth. In fact, looking it up in the dictionary, lie is defined as "an intentionally false statement" (emphasis mine). If you, in good faith, relay information you believe to be good, and it later turns out to be wrong, you didn't lie, although you did tell an untruth that you believed was truth at the time. There's no sin in that, because there was no intent.

The fact is, we know that President Bush relied on information provided by the U.S. intelligence services. Frankly, we don't know if he lied, because we don't know what he knew at the time. Accusing him of lying is a bit over the line; at most, we can say that we don't know whether he lied or not.

As far as we now know, President Bush is guilty at most of trusting the intelligence apparatus of the U.S. government; and that apparatus was in place long before Bush became president. We also don't know whether the intelligence group lied to Bush, or were simply wrong in their assessment of information. Bear in mind that these statements may need to be revised as new information becomes available.

Let's put a little thought into things, and try to separate fact from (politically motivated) opinion, before deciding what we believe - and what we repeat to those around us.

How about you? Would YOU want to be held to the standard that you are responsible for the absolute truth of every statement you made?

Think about it.

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History Shock...

2008-01-16T07:35:00.001-06:00

Howdy, everybody;

One of my coworkers was just showing me his duck pictures, from his most recent hunt. He's an avid duck hunter. I will never forget the day that he told me he had an electric duck. Yeah, right...

Not knowing anything myself about duck hunting, I had not known that they have decoys that have movable wings, and several other variations. Some of them will even paddle around out on the pond, the better to simulate a live duck. It was really funny at the time, and I gave him a hard time about his electric duck.

Then I had this thought: If you had told me when I was 16 years old that I would spend ten years or so of my career occasionally cleaning mouse balls, until the advent of the laser mouse, I would have said "No Way!". But that's the way it turned out.

So, readers - what temporal anomalies have you noticed in your lives? Feel free to post them here - maybe we'll start a collection.

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I still love my Mac, part 2.

2008-01-13T09:49:00.001-06:00

A few minutes ago I came across a one-page website put up by somebody who blasted Mac lovers for loving their Macs. Very rudely. Sad - for the author. I guess he got insulted because somebody was going on and on about it.

Folks, the Mac is not perfect, any more than anything else made by man is perfect. It will sometimes have failures, and the vagaries of computers apply to the Mac as well as the Windows PC. If you expect perfection, you won't find it here.

Having said that, simply put, the frustration level is way less on a Mac. Compared to any other system currently available for the personal computer market.

I've been there and I've done that, and I've examined both systems looking for the best solution available. I have also looked at Linux (several different distributions), OS/2, BeOS (which had great performance, but was sidelined due to insanely poor business practice), EVERY version of Windows since 3.0, DOS, and CP/M before that. I haven't just loaded them up and looked at them, I've used every one and became proficient on most. And yes, I have Vista installed in a VM on my Mac. It works, and I use it for certain tasks, but I don't linger when I'm done working there. I have been responsible for maintaining all the computers in every place I've worked in the last 20 years. So I know just about everything that can go wrong on a computer.

I'm using a Mac by choice. It is a net improvement to my life.

No, it's not perfect. But it is so much less painful than working with Windows that I've adopted it wholeheartedly. I no longer spend nearly so much time (and money) just maintaining my system. It makes many things fun to do. In fact, it is so much better than Windows that I find myself typing articles like this one; something I never felt motivated to do for Windows.

OS X is subtle in many ways. For instance, in Microsoft Word, you have spell check? On the Mac, everything has spell check - it's universal. On my PC at work, I have occasionally launched Word just so I could see how to spell something. On the Mac, not necessary. You might not even notice this for a long time, but it's a real blessing. It's even a great thing for developers - they don't have to figure out how to implement spell check in their programs. Many other things are similar, in that you one day realize how well it all works.

Is there a learning curve? Yes. I've been using it a bit over a year, now, and I still learn little things about making it do what I want. For instance, the Mac keyboard doesn't have a delete-to-the-right button; the delete key deletes the letter to the left. Just a day or two ago, I found out that the delete-to-the-right function is the delete key with the Fn button held down. It was there all along. I came across it in the excellent Missing Manual book, Mac OS X Leopard Edition, which I'm currently reading.

There is a class of people I have worked with who just can't handle change. If you are one of them, stick with what you've got. It's your loss, not mine. Don't complain because it doesn't act like Windows; you have to understand that it's NOT Windows. As for me, I will try new tools that become available to see if there is merit in them. In the Mac, I find lots of merit.

So you do have to be willing to learn new things - Mac OS X is NOT Windows, although they have many similarities. If you get frustrated because it isn't Windows, maybe it isn't for you. But if you want a system that doesn't aggravate you regularly, buy a Mac.

Have fun!
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I still love my Mac

2008-01-13T09:06:00.001-06:00

Howdy, Everybody;

A few days ago I bought a Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000. I was keeping an eye out for a bluetooth mouse, because theoretically I could do away with the USB plug-in 2.4 Mhz radio transmitter required with most wireless mice. This works, of course, because bluetooth is built into my MacBook Pro.

This bluetooth feature works really well with this mouse and my Mac. The only new thing is that I have to remember to switch off the mouse when I quit for the day, to save the batteries. The only complaint I have is that the wheel on the mouse is a bit notchy. I've gotten used to the Logitech's spin-wheel which is very smooth. But I can live with that for the benefit of A) freeing up a USB port and B) not having to mess with an adapter. There is no apparent lag, action is very smooth, clicking has no hesitation and registers every time.

Recommended.

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I like this picture...

2008-01-10T22:14:00.000-06:00

moar funny pictures

Arthur C. Clarke feels right at home...
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Nifty Gun a Friend Bought

2008-01-03T14:44:00.001-06:00

Howdy, Everybody;

One of my co-workers recently bought a Taurus "The Judge". This is a pretty nifty revolver, that shoots .45 Colt ammo. It has the (mostly) unique capability of also accepting .410 shotgun shells. Capacity is five rounds. It fits the hand well. The front sight is a fixed red fiber optic site, very easy to get lined up with. The cylinder is really long, to handle the shotgun shells.

Now this should make a very effective self defense weapon. In demonstration videos I've seen, shooting what looks like a 12" square target, the shotgun shell makes a hole in the middle about 2" across, and scatters across the target to the edge of the target, from a range of about 10 feet. This makes an effective weapon without having to be dead-on in your aim. A great time-saver in a defensive situation. This would be an ideal weapon shooting down a hallway in a home invasion scenario. Or for defense against animal attack.

The owner was using it to shoot skeet last weekend. What a trip!

Fun!

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Colder than...

2008-01-03T14:25:00.001-06:00

Howdy everybody;

It's colder than a well-digger's, uh, feet out there! I think I saw a cow with ear-muffs on the way to work this morning. It was 17.8 degrees at my house this morning at about 6:15 AM.

No busted pipes, so far, so I'm counting my blessings.

Work is back in full swing, that is to say, about 0.9 CM (Crisis Mode) on Pop's Panic Scale. I'm getting things to do faster than I can do them. So I keep plodding along...

I am continually surprised that so many people listen to me. Four Macintosh laptops were bought at Christmastime, at least somewhat due to my recommendations. I hope they all have as much fun with theirs as I do with mine. Which I still love, by the way.

It's nice being back in the saddle, I suppose.

Happy New Year to you all!

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Happy New Year - most of you...

2007-12-31T20:31:00.001-06:00

Howdy;

Some sorry 24 year old utterly contemptible subhuman decided to drive on the wrong side of the road in Ohio, last night. He had three times the legal level of alcohol in his blood.

This person took the lives of a mother and four children, and severely injured several others. Such monumental irresponsibility is almost unbelievable, but it will undoubtedly be repeated a few times tonight, across the nation.

The english language does not have the words to describe the utter, total, contempt I hold for this little s__t. There simply is not any excuse for this. To end the lives of so many, and to so totally screw up the lives of all the survivors.

Maybe some of you will read this and not over-do the booze, tonight. I hope so. Please.

Happy New Year! to those of you who survive the night....

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Holiday Blues

2007-12-29T08:10:00.001-06:00

Howdy, Everybody;

Christmas was OK this year, I guess, but somehow it's not the same as when the kids were, well, kids. It seems that it's been so fragmented anymore. Son J is in from New York, for a couple of weeks, and has spent a couple of days with us in that time. We spent the Saturday before Christmas helping Son R assemble a very nice swing set / fort combo for Granddaughter T, which was fun. Especially with the wind gusts to 40 mph.

In the days preceding this, Grandma (my wife) made about 47 batches of 17 different kinds of fudge (I'm exaggerating, but not all that much). After all that stirring I bet she could break a brick with her right hand as long as she hit it in a stirring motion. Wax on, wax off....

When I said Christmas was fragmented, I mean that for every family sub-group, there's a separate opening of presents. This year, apparently the other Grandparents had theirs before ours. Unfortunately, when it was our turn, several of the toys we had purchased for Granddaughter T had already been given to her. Next year we need to coordinate a little better. You live and learn.

Us grandparents have passed the Christmas torch to the kids, so we celebrated Christmas day in the afternoon at R's house. It was pretty nice, but this was the first time we haven't had it at our house since we got married. Nothing wrong with that, that's the way it should be. It's just a transition for us. The times, they are a - changing. Now that I think about it, we did the same thing at Thanksgiving, also for the first time.

We didn't even put up a tree this year, although we did decorate outside.

I spent several days of my vacation / holiday days writing a computer program for use at work, to make it faster to quote pump systems. I love doing this stuff, but still; it would have been better to spend the time with family. But they were pretty much all either working or visiting other people during this couple of days. And the weather was crappy, so I didn't want to be outdoors.

Last night, I had an excellent look at Mars, bare eyes. Probably the clearest I've ever seen it. It was too cold to stay out long, though.

So now we're in the dead zone between Christmas and New Years. There's a campfire going on tonight at the deer lease, which we'll be going to, and that will be nice. Both of our boys will be there, as well as other close friends, and we're looking forward to that. And then Monday we take J to the airport to go back to NY. That's pretty much an all day event, the airport being around 150 miles away.

So, that's how it is at Pop's place at the moment.

Happy New Year!
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Why I Will Never Buy Another Microsoft Product

2007-12-14T08:57:00.001-06:00

unless I just have to have it for my business.

I have a fun computer rig. I have a Macbook Pro - enough said. I'm running Parallels Desktop on it with Windows Vista Business installed in a virtual machine, for when I just have to do those Windows things.

I upgrade Parallels Desktop whenever an update becomes available. I did this about a month ago, and again last night. Apparently it changed the virtual machine enough that it activated Vista's copy protection, and I got a little warning window that showed up for about three seconds that said if I didn't activate my copy of Vista it would quit working in three days.

So after I finished what I was doing, I cranked up the Windows Validation tool. Of course, it refused to validate automatically, because I had already validated it when I installed it originally. So I had to call the 1-800 number for validation, where I got to read (to a computer over the phone) nine sets of numbers. Of course, this also failed, so it then kicked me over to a Real Live Person. From the accent, probably somewhere in India or China.

This person then had me read several of the same number groups to her over the phone; then she asked me some questions, such as had I activated it before? And, how many computers am I running this copy of Vista on? The answer, by the way, is ONE - I bought this copy of Vista for the purpose of running it in this virtual machine. Whereupon, the lady gave me nine number sequences that I had to enter into the Vista dialog box. And I was activated - again.

It pisses me off that I have to go through all that just to run an OS that I paid $300 for the privilege of using. It is a major freaking hassle to have to go through to reassure Microsoft that no, I am NOT a thief. Blast you, Microsoft!!! I resent the implication. I've paid for every bit of software on any of my computers.

And what if my system updates again, and your validation crap is not available for whatever reason? I get shut down, even though I am totally legal and paid for the product.

I'll probably have to do this again, the next time Parallels Desktop gets updated. It's not their fault - It's Microsoft that doesn't trust their customers, and builds bear traps into their software.

I will NEVER buy another Microsoft product, unless I simply have no other choice.

Macintosh, on the other hand, has OS X - $129 - no hassle, works on the first try, works really well, and they don't threaten to cut me off if, in their opinion, my computer gets changed too much. And you can get spreadsheet and word processing software that is just fine - for $79, not the $400 or so that Microsoft charges.

I have Delphi as a programming environment installed in Vista in a virtual machine on my Mac. The two most expensive programs on my computer - Vista $300 and Delphi (upgrade) $400. Over on the Mac side, X-code for programming on the Mac is (wait for it...) IN THE BOX with OS X. How cool is that?

NEVER, Microsoft, NEVER - it's too late for you - you've already burned your bridges with me. Get the picture???

-Pop

And a NON Gun Free Zone Shooting

2007-12-11T11:16:00.000-06:00

Howdy, Everybody;

About the church shootings in Colorado:

The media seems to want to emphasize that the lady who stopped the murderer was a 'security guard', the unstated implication being that this was someone like you would see working for a security firm, maybe in uniform, with a gun on the belt. In fact she was a volunteer security guard for her church; in reality, a private citizen with a concealed carry permit; something the media hasn't exactly made clear. Liberal (anti-gun) bias in the media, again.

Good Job, Jeanne Assam!!! You are a hero!

Also please note that the killer was stopped at a location that was NOT a gun free zone. If this had been in a gun free zone, and Jeanne Assam was obeying the law by not carrying, how many more would have died at the hands of the murderer before the police (who can be armed in a gun free zone) arrived? The murderer was carrying two handguns, a rifle, and over 1000 rounds of ammo.

This is the reason for concealed carry. To save lives.

This is the reason that gun free zones are worse than useless. Because the sign on the door won't stop a murderer - it will only stop law-abiding victims from being able to protect themselves efficiently.

-Pop

Yet Another Gun Free Zone Shooting

2007-12-06T15:26:00.001-06:00

Foxnews.com has an excellent article about the shooting at the Westroads Mall in Omaha. Yet another mass shooting in a gun-free zone. When will they learn that only the good guys obey the law? Gun free zones = killing fields for lunatics.

It's hard for me to understand why the owners of a Mall (or any other place) think putting up a sign will keep anybody safe. Doesn't work. Maybe the bad guys can't read?

-Pop

Death

2007-12-05T20:33:00.001-06:00

Howdy, everybody;

There comes a time in every person's life when you know for sure that you will die. I don't think young people can really conceive of this. It comes as a realization one day that you really aren't getting out of this life, alive.

I am a Christian; and it is appointed to every man (person) to die once. This is an intellectual understanding. I have an idea about what comes after, and yes, I believe I will be going to Heaven to be with Jesus. So I'm not really afraid of death. But I'm not in any particular hurry to get there, either. That's for later. My time is not yet. It's just that I now realize that someday it really will happen, to me.

There is a curious freedom in the realization that there will be an ending of this earthly life. Even a sense of relief. Some day, each of us will be called back into the Presence. And those of us who love Jesus will get to stay there. No more pain; much joy. Completion, in the full meaning of the word.

It seems to me that a healthy person will do what they can to prolong life, without being a fanatic about it. There's no point in worrying too much about it - you know for sure that you're going anyway, at some point. Relax, and think about good things in your life. Cherish them, for they have a limit.

I have thought sometimes, over the years, that funerals demonstrate something confused in the belief systems held by most Christians. You go to a funeral and those with an emotional attachment to the deceased will all be crying and feeling bad. And yet, for a Christian, dying is like winning the lottery! We should be congratulating the deceased for graduating, rather than selfishly bemoaning their loss. Curious.

I hope that when I pass on, the survivors have a family get-together and enjoy a good time together, knowing that we will meet again in the fullness of time, Lord willing.

In any case, life has its good moments, and they should be enjoyed to the fullest. It is never a waste of time to sit on the front porch and enjoy the occasional nice day. Make the most of it.

There are two kinds of people - who, being thrown out of an airplane at 30,000 feet without a parachute: one kind will scream all the way down; the other will enjoy the view. I think I am one of the latter group.

I'm 54 years old, and enjoying the view!

-Pop

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T08:48:00.001-06:00

Howdy, everybody;

For us, this is a unique Thanksgiving; for the first time since we had kids, we (Pop and Grandma) are spending Thanksgiving alone. So it's a new thing for us. I guess it's a bit of a transition, but it will be OK.

On the other hand, yesterday we got to take Granddaughter to the zoo, and that was a treat!

Thanksgiving: Thanks to God (the Christian one, in case you were wondering) for every blessing in our lives.

First, for His undiluted love, from which all other true love flows;

Second, for His amazing gift of His Son, and thereby our salvation.

Third, for the love of each member of our family for each other, which derives ultimately from His love.

Fourth, for the love of our friends and their families.

Fifth, for the general health, safety and well-being of each of us in our family and our friend's families.

Sixth, for the general prosperity we enjoy - not rich by any means, but sufficient to our real needs.

All of these things are gifts of God; and except for His love and our salvation, none of them are guaranteed in this life. We are blessed indeed. Thank You, Lord, and all praise to You!

Enough said!

-Pop

My Discworld Character!

2007-11-16T06:51:00.000-06:00

Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Cohen The Barbarian

You are Cohen the Barbarian! The greatest hero that ever lived! That is, you were! But you are still alive and kicking! And slashing, and biting, and hitting. You have a lot of experience at not dieing, and are extremely difficult to kill (you've survived this long). So you're old, but still loot and pillage. And you have very nice diamond dentures!

Cohen The Barbarian

69%

Greebo

56%

Lord Havelock Vetinari

56%

The Librarian

50%

Death

44%

Carrot Ironfounderson

44%

Commander Samuel Vimes

38%

Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax

38%

Rincewind

38%

Gytha (Nanny) Ogg

31%

Macintosh Leopard Goodness

2007-11-02T15:00:00.002-05:00

Howdy;

I've been using the new version of OS/X, version 10.5 (Leopard) all week since it was released October 26. With very minor exceptions, the upgrade was flawless. Of course, after such an upgrade, you spend some time playing with the new features and figuring out what is useful and what isn't. My favorite new features are:

Time Machine: I plugged in my 512 GB USB drive into the laptop and enabled Time Machine. After the initial full backup, which took a while, it is thereafter seamless. So far, no downside to this. Now just the act of plugging in and turning on the drive gets me effortless backups; and the best part is it is so very easy to restore anything that needs it. Very cool.

Spaces: This is virtual window technology. I have experimented with it in the world of Windows, but was never satisfied. After a few days of using it on Leopard, I'm hooked. Right now I have four screens in use - the first is my default, with Email and Finder; the second is web browsing in Safari; the third is a spreadsheet I'm working on; and fourth is currently my blogging software. Switching between the windows is effortless, just a hot-key. Very well implemented, very fast, no downside so far. Saves a lot of time shuffling around to get the window you need to the top. Nice.

Mail: Now has notes, and a nifty feature that recognizes addresses and similar information, offering to add it to your contacts. This is something that should have been invented a long time ago - no more retyping, or cutting and pasting something I can see on the screen to get it into my address book.

Cover Flow: In Finder (and other places) this allows you to 'flip' through documents and files, glancing at the first page of each. This is so much like how you would leaf through a pile of loose papers looking for whatever that it is very natural and intuitive. Fast, too. Well done.

Lots of nifty other things, those are just my favorites so far.

One other new software item that didn't come in Leopard. I found a program named Undercover, by Orbicule. This program, once installed, sits in the background running continuously, and invisibly. If somebody steals my laptop, I contact Orbicule and enter the code for the copy of the software I bought. The next time somebody connects to the internet with my stolen laptop, the computer automatically and silently sends the IP address and other information to Orbicule, who inform the nearest police. Furthermore, it actually uses the built-in camera to take pictures of the thief, emailing them to Orbicule every six minutes. Now that's cool. The elegance of this approach really appeals to me. I hope I don't have to find out how well it works, but I'm about as prepared as I can get for anything to happen to my laptop.

The World of Apple and the Macintosh just keeps getting better and better. I'll never go back to Windows unless something big changes.

-Pop

Tolerance - Today's Buzz Word

2007-11-01T21:00:00.001-05:00

Howdy, everybody;

There's this idea going around the US nowadays that it is wrong to be 'against' most anything. They call it lack of tolerance. The 'politically correct' idea is that being 'intolerant' is a bad thing.

Let's examine that idea.

Tolerance is the idea that if somebody believes or acts differently than you do, you put up with it rather than outright rejecting it. For instance, someone I know smokes. In public, I tolerate it, but I stand upwind.

However, I draw the line if that person were to come to my home and want to smoke indoors. I do not want my house to smell like cigarette smoke; I won't 'tolerate' it. So I ask that person to please not smoke indoors. If they persist, I ask them to leave. If they don't want to leave, I will kick them out.

If your tolerance was unlimited, you would have no say whatever in anything that happens, even in your home. Your dog pees in the floor - what, where's your tolerance?

So, obviously, 'tolerance' has limits. And everybody has a line somewhere in their head that has 'tolerance' on one side of it and 'intolerance' on the other side - and that is true of every conceivable point of contention. This is a life-style choice, and we all make them.

So we're all intolerant about some things. All of us. Get over it.

Is such lack of 'tolerance' wrong? I don't think so.

I think 'intolerance' is evil only if it turns into hate. At that point, it has become prejudice or bigotry.

This idea (that intolerance of any sort is bad) is promoted mainly by liberals. The intent is to paint conservatives in a bad light, because conservatives have standards of acceptable conduct that make it easy to call them intolerant. They ignore the fact that each of us should be allowed to decide what we will and won't tolerate. If we can't do that, then this is no longer a free country. If we can't think what we want, then we are not free.

Next time a liberal complains to me about my lack of tolerance, I'm going to ask him where his tolerance is of me and my belief system. It seems to me the liberals want 'tolerance' only as long as it's everybody else being tolerant of them and their agenda. They have no 'tolerance' at all in the other direction. The really funny thing is that they apparently don't see the built-in contradiction in their thinking.

As for me, I'll be tolerant or intolerant as I see fit. If you don't like it - you are an intolerant hypocrite!

- Pop

Brinks Home Alarm Advertisement

2007-10-28T10:26:00.000-05:00

Have y'all seen that Brinks ad for their home security system? It's designed, of course, to sell alarm systems. I find a few things in it that should make you think:

1. When the bad guy kicks in the front door, the alarm sounds, and the bad guy immediately runs away. I don't think it's likely that would happen in my neighborhood - maybe if you lived next door to the police station. Where I live, 20 minutes out of town, your response time is usually 20 minutes on up.

2. The alarm company calls the home before any response happens. From experience at my job, I know they will call going down a list until somebody answers. If you tell them you need help, then they will call the cops. If you are on the floor, being raped, you are not going to be able to answer the phone. If no one answers, the alarm company will go down the list to the next person to call. This process adds to the response time.

3. Because of the above, the bad guy is not in any particular hurry to run away. If he is intent on violence, you are dead meat.

4. Notice that after all that, the police show up. They take a statement. They leave. They did not protect anybody. They would if they could, but they weren't there when the bad guy was. This isn't the fault of the police - it's just the facts of the situation.

Don't get me wrong - an alarm system is a great idea. Just don't expect it to protect you from anything. It's mostly useful to wake you up if you're asleep, so you can get your gun; or to let the cops know your house has been broken into when you're gone. But it can't protect you from anything.

If you want protection from the bad guys, buy a gun and learn to use it. Protect yourself - because when you need it, you're likely going to be the only help you've got.

Even that doesn't guarantee that you will come out all right - but at least you'll have a chance.

-Pop

Violent Crime in Gun Filled Zones

2007-10-28T10:15:00.001-05:00

Isn't it interesting how you never seem to hear about any sort of violent crime, murders, rapes or things like that - at shooting ranges?

If you believed the anti-gun crowd, it looks like there would be murders and shoot-outs left and right in those places - after all, nearly everybody there is armed!

Instead, you get a bunch of polite, friendly people who mutually respect each other and everybody has a good time pursuing their sport. People you've never met before are friendly and polite. This is awesome.

More guns = less crime. Statistically proven again and again. Check out http://www.gunfacts.info/

-Pop

Quote for the Day #2

2007-10-28T10:07:00.000-05:00

"Never try to teach a pig to sing - it wastes your time and annoys the pig." - Lazarus Long, in Time Enough for Love by R.A. Heinlein

Quote for the Day

2007-10-24T14:02:00.000-05:00

"You know there's no advantage to be gained by murdering idiots - it doesn't teach the idiot anything and it might give onlookers the idea that you take them seriously..." - from Halting State by Charles Stross.

Good book, so far.

-Pop

Macintosh Revisited

2007-10-22T15:19:00.000-05:00

Howdy, friends;

After about 11 months, I still love the Mac, and OS X. I can't think of the last time I've had to fool around with it to get something to work the way it's supposed to. Unlike Windows. And this Friday, the next version of OS X will be here. This ought to be fun! And, it's $129. Check out the price of Windows sometime...

On the interesting software side of things, check out "The Brain". This is a very capable personal information manager with a truly innovative user interface. The interface highlights the relationships between things. For instance, I have a 'brain' that has pumps, related to orders and also related to job sites. You can easily find an order, or the pumps that were on that order, or the field locations where they are actually located. This program has versions that run on Windows or the Mac. Incredible. Check it out here.

Excellent stuff.

-Pop

Cataracts...

2007-10-16T19:55:00.000-05:00

Howdy, everybody.

Found out yesterday that I have early stage cataracts. That means that, sometime in the next few years I will need to get lens replacements. That's expensive. On the other hand, they now have multi-focus lenses to implant, that should pretty much correct my vision 100%. At least, there is a good probability of that outcome, and that would be really nice - I've been wearing glasses since the sixth grade.

Getting old sucks. Getting bionic eyes - maybe not so much. If and when, I'll let you know how it turns out.

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Symptoms of a Church in Trouble

2007-10-12T13:26:00.000-05:00

Some Symptoms of a Sick Church - in no particular order:

The preacher becomes an automatic member of every committee and uses his influence to exert control.
Committees tend to abdicate their power in favor of the preacher, taking his word for gospel.
The preacher tries to place people, associates or family, who are in favor of his plans or actions, into key positions within the church.
The preacher feels he has to be involved in every important decision.
The preacher's recruitment priority for new church members has wealth as a criteria.
Lots of money gets spent on the pastor's pet projects.
There is talk that the preacher is not always totally honest, and tends to blame others for his mistakes or shortcomings.
Corners get cut in long-standing church business procedures.
Members begin to leave as they realize some of these things are going on.
There is friction between the preacher and those staff or members who are in a position to know about some of the questionable decisions and events.

Of course, it's probably a bad sign if the preacher or any of his associates have a history of causing problems or stealing money at their prior church or churches.

Just some things to watch out for... See my earlier post.

- Pop

Church Troubles are Over - for Me

2007-10-11T14:24:00.000-05:00

I have decided to stay out of the issues that are going on at my church. God is going to have to find somebody else to handle this one. It is better to do no harm, than it is to possibly hurt people while trying to do good; at least in these specific circumstances. And I fear collateral damage to my family and friends.

But that church is sick, and I will not support it under the current pastor.

-Pop

Flags

2007-10-05T08:39:00.000-05:00

All respect to Jim Broussard.

A business in Nevada was flying a Mexican flag above an American flag. Mr. Broussard cut it down. Good work, Mr. Broussard. News link here.

- Pop

Democratic Maneuvering

2007-10-03T10:41:00.000-05:00

The Democrats pushed through a bill for children's insurance that sounds good for the children but had problems with who would benefit and who would pay. The very people who need assistance the most would have born most of the burden of the cigarette tax. So President Bush vetoed it.

This situation was a win/win for the Democrats because, had it passed, it would be the first step in socialized medicine in the U.S. - something that isn't working well in other countries. But since the bill was vetoed, it gives the Democrats another chance to vilify President Bush, making him out as careless of the children. And yet, President Bush actually wanted to expand the original funding to the program - it is the Democrats who want to expand it radically in directions that penalized the poor via increased taxation on cigarettes.

This is yet another example of extreme spin by the far left. In actuality, the Democrats set up something that, at first glance, looks good - but would actually be damaging when you study the details. And so the president has to block it, and the Democrats get to blast him yet again.

This is an example of political use of the media - anyone who actually studies what the Democrats proposed could see it would hurt poor people financially out of proportion to the benefit - but this truth is not evident in the headlines. All you will see there is how Bush vetoed free insurance for millions of kids, but still wants funding for the war effort. Talk about spin!

-Pop

Truth in the News

2007-10-02T15:39:00.000-05:00

I just read an article on the CBS news website in which they RADICALLY distorted facts, presented outright lies, and showed misleading video. The subject was semi-automatic weapons, and the article represents a severe abuse of the trust one should have of news media, in order to promote a political agenda - in this case, anti-gun. It is here. If you watch this, be aware it is just plain bogus. Read the comments.

Many years ago, in the coverage of the Three Mile Island nuclear incident, I remember the news anchor using the expression "hydrogen explosion" several times. They were talking about a hydrogen GAS explosion, but the commentator was so happy to make it sound like a hydrogen BOMB explosion (thermonuclear) that the deception of the play on words disgusted me. The commentator was almost gleeful as he could just about see his ratings going up. Probably scared a lot of people that didn't really need to be scared.

Almost everywhere you look, deception and lies, usually slanted far left. The far left loses my vote right there, just because they use such techniques to spread their crap.

I am really, really tired of being lied to by news media that we should be able to trust.

The only news media I regularly watch any more is Fox News, and even with them I pay attention to make sure they don't start drifting off course. So far, they're still good. When they are talking opinion, it is clear that is what is going on. And facts are facts. This is no longer true of any other major news organization.

I wonder if it is legal to sue a news organization for intentionally publishing falsehood and lies? Why should they be immune from prosecution for this? I mean, after all, if you purchase a product that has been misrepresented, you can sue; so why not for the news? It should be illegal to publish a lie without labeling it 'fiction' or 'opinion'.

Yes, I know, free speech and all that. OK, let them publish their lies - just label it as such. They can say anything they want, as long as they let you know whether it is factual or not.

Well, I'm voting with my feet. I'm not watching CNN, or CBS, or any other news media I catch doing this kind of crap. Newspeople, you lie to me, you lose my attention because your credibility is destroyed. And I hope you go out of business. I'll do my part to make it happen.

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Far Left Inconsistency

2007-09-28T08:36:00.000-05:00

How come the people on the far left spend so much effort promoting "Constitutional Separation of Church and State" which does not, in fact, exist in the Constitution of the United States; and yet they also spend great effort to deny "the Right to Bear Arms" of an individual, which IS in the Constitution?

There's an agenda, there. They negate the Constitution on at least two counts.

I'll tell you what. This isn't original with me, but - "I'll use my Second Amendment rights to defend your First Amendment Rights - if you'll use your First Amendment rights to defend my Second Amendment rights."

The Constitution is of a piece - you either accept the whole thing, or you don't. If you don't, feel free to leave.

-Pop

New CHL Laws in Texas

2007-09-26T13:31:00.000-05:00

I have a Texas CHL (Concealed Handgun License). Therefore, I try to keep up with the latest and greatest laws that pertain thereto. The following is in the current book (ls-16.pdf) published by the government for the purpose:

PC 9.34 PROTECTION OF LIFE OR HEALTH.
(a) ...
(b) A person is justified in using both force and deadly force against another when and to the degree he reasonably believes the force or deadly force is immediately necessary to preserve the other's life in an emergency.

OK, so... I can kill somebody dead in order to save their life?

Okee - Dokee, now.

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Engineering Companies

2007-09-26T11:19:00.000-05:00

I am in the position of quoting projects to customers of all sorts. Most of the time, this is a fairly benign process - the customer tells you what he wants, you do design work if necessary, and figure out the cost and how long it will take to provide the product. In our case, the product is pumps, or pump systems mounted on a base. We take our cost, apply a percentage to it, and tell the customer how much and when. They buy the pumps, we fill the order, and everybody is happy (usually).

When dealing with an engineering company, you run up against a paper mill that is nothing short of incredible. We just got an order for three vertical turbine pumps. That's it - just three pumps. These are by no means huge pumps, but the order is for about a quarter of a million dollars. Our supplier can build these pumps easily in about 18 weeks. The order's ship date is some 11 months in the future, so delivery is no problem. Easy.

Except - the request for quotation came with specifications 1 1/2" thick - I just measured it. For three pumps. Now that we have the order, the specifications that came with the order measures about 1" thick - so the bidding process thinned it down a bit. There is a list of documentation required with 85 line items on it, 3 1/2 pages long. For three pumps!

That list has items like "Barge Load Plan", and "Past Experience", and "Preliminary Training Plans", and "Final Training Plans". For three pumps!

I have around 20 subdirectories on my hard drive with documents that went back and forth in the six months it's taken just to quote this job. 44 MB of data - before we even got the job!

The end user is paying an awful lot of money for a crew of engineers and MBA's and lawyers and clerks to generate all that paperwork, and then to require us to provide even more paperwork, for three pumps. The overhead cost to the customer on this must exceed the price of the pumps by a fair amount, in terms of salaries, organization, office space, etc. But it will be very, very well documented.

They could save an incredible amount of money if the facility engineer just called us up, gave us his design characteristics, let us select a pump, provide our warranty, fill the order, and be done with it. But instead, I'm going to have to hassle with these three pumps until this time next year! The pumps will outweigh the paperwork - but maybe not by much. And all of it will have to pass through my hands.

Oh well, it's a living.

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Pacifism - Wrong!

2007-09-19T10:35:00.000-05:00

Violence is something that exists in life, and sooner or later all of us will be confronted with it on some level. Many people are taught to submit when confronted with violence. These people tend to believe that in order to be 'peaceful' they must never be aggressive themselves. After all, Jesus said 'turn the other cheek'. These people are taught, falsely, that if they submit, the bad guys will not hurt them. But that puts the decision about your welfare in someone else's hands - and at best, that someone has already demonstrated zero respect of you and your rights.

In some cases, this may work as a survival strategy, but by definition it puts you at the mercy of the aggressor. Pacifism is not a survival strategy in the real world - it only works when EVERYBODY is a pacifist. One aggressive individual in a room full of pacifists is THE BOSS, and the pacifists have no rights.

It is appropriate and moral to be aggressive in response to an attack. The basis of this morality is in not being the initiator of the conflict.

A careful reading of the Bible shows that 'turning the other cheek' means to not respond to insults or other similar provocation with force. But when the provocation escalates to bodily harm to you or other innocents, or even hurting you in a financial way by stealing what is yours, then you have the moral right and obligation to defend yourself. A truly excellent treatment of this subject can be found at The Cornered Cat. Highly, highly recommended.

It is possible and right to be a non-pacifist, deal from a position of strength, and still be a moral person who loves God.

-Pop

Church Management - an Unflattering Look

2007-09-14T16:24:00.000-05:00

I've been going to the same church since 1975. I've been there through half a dozen preachers. So I get a pretty good feel for what goes on.

Recently, two or three (very new) members of the church have aggressively promoted themselves to the (fairly new) preacher. You might say they've 'gotten in good' with him. For brevity, I will refer to this group as the 'cabal'. The cabal is pushing for a multi-media program for the church, in which (of course) they play a central part. The preacher has committed himself to this program in a big way.

First, the cabal promoted implementation of a projection system in the church sanctuary, to the tune of around $16,000. It was voted on and passed, and that was OK and reasonable. Many of us didn't see why we needed it, but there wasn't a really good reason not to do this, so it was voted on and passed. It's working now, too, but suffering a number of growing pains that are sometimes comical, such as lack of coordination with the music director. Final cost around $20,000 after associated expenses.

This system was purchased based on one quotation. This is absolutely awful business practice, not to imply anything else.

Funny how it worked out that, a month or so later, we suddenly had to have a new sound system to go with the projection system - around another $20,000. This wasn't mentioned or promoted until after the projection system was in place.

Another purchase based on one quotation - to the same company as before.

This next part involves some conjecture. I would lay very heavy odds that the cabal planned both of these at the same time, but broke it up into two portions in order to get them passed in the church business meetings - it's unlikely that the church would have gone for the combined price in one pass. If this is true (about which, to be fair, I have no proof), then I think it was dishonest of them to conceal the full cost of the program from the church at the very beginning. Because of the timing, I do think it was planned in advance. So, in my view, the cabal is manipulating the church to bring about changes that, taken together, probably would not have been approved by the church body.

If I am correct, the cabal is manipulating the church body, to achieve their own goals. If I am not correct, the sudden additional need for a sound system represents mismanagement, poor business practice (1 bid?), and poor planning at best. And it's really peculiar that we've now spent around $36,000 to $40,000 on a project introduced by people who haven't been members of our church but a few months. The total of these expenditures is about 1/3 of the church's total cash reserves, as listed in the last business report.

The next thing to happen is the cabal's expressed desire to take control of the church website, which was created at the request of the church a little over a year ago. The access codes were turned over to the cabal by the author without delay. Although a complete website was already in place, I was surprised to see that the very next day, the entire website is gone, replaced with a single placeholder page promising a whole new site in three months. Now, the site could have been left in place until they were ready to implement the new one, but instead they chose to destroy it.

The cabal may be able to do a better website than existed before. If so, good. But there wasn't anything wrong with the old one, and it represented many hours and days of work. Furthermore, they blew it away three months before they plan to have anything to replace it with. They were in a hurry to get rid of it. An old site is better than no site, in my mind.

There are at least a couple of other issues of which I am aware, but in one case I do not have permission of the involved persons to discuss it, and in another I do not have enough confirmed and verifiable information. My intent here is to convey only incidents for which I have both solid knowledge and when appropriate, permission of the sources.

So, in summary - a very small group of very new people, along with a fairly new preacher, are now in direct control of every form of communication and publishing our church has. There is some possibility of deliberate manipulation of the church body. And there is some question as to the wisdom of certain business practices.

Bending over backwards to be fair, I suppose that some of this could be subject to a different interpretation. But this account shows how it looks from where I'm sitting. This whole situation is, at best, a stewardship problem - and at worst, something much worse.

Not a very flattering view of the management at my church. This is a true account of recent events at our church, but I have named no names - not even the name of the church. This is to protect the innocent, as well as myself.

I haven't posted this out of spite, or anger; but if there's one place that you should be able to find openness and truth, it is your own church; and just at the moment, I feel a little sick about it, instead.

-Pop

Violence!

2007-09-11T09:02:00.001-05:00

I just read an article describing how many Utah schools are either not commemorating 9/11 or are downplaying it. The text of the article stated, regarding the children, "we don't want them to dwell on violence".

It occurs to me that, though we all want to protect our children from violence, hiding it from them may be a mistake of major proportions. After all, it is a violent world!

Now, I'm not saying we should support violence, or put a positive spin on it. But I am saying that our children will have to learn how to deal with it at some point in their lives. The ability to deal with violence, both emotionally and physically, needs to be part of the training and education of every person, so that when confronted with it, a reasoned response can be generated.

This might be anything from calming down someone who is about to go ballistic, all the way to taking the initiative to defend yourself when physically attacked instead of just giving up. Right now, so many people are being taught that, when attacked, give the aggressor what he wants and he will go away. Sometimes it does happen like that. But many times, it does not. As witness the Virginia Tech massacre. Some of the students and teachers were mentally prepared to defend themselves - and some were not. Particularly in an execution scenario, doing nothing is not a survival strategy that works.

I believe that educating people about violence would improve the ratio of those able to defend themselves, if done correctly. And I think we would become a healthier society because of this. Denying that violence exists will not make it go away - therefore it is absolutely necessary to learn how to deal with it.

God help us if we ever get a U.S. President that believes in going belly-up at the first sign of aggression.

-Pop

Jump!

2007-09-05T10:17:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

Well, our customer said Frog again, and we Jumped again!

Got a call yesterday just before lunch that they wanted us on site to startup the pumps, again. So we called everybody to meet us there, same as last time, and left the office just before lunch. Three hours later, back on job site. At first glance, things looked pretty good. But it turned out that most of the emergency shutdown sensors weren't installed.

When the controls man showed up, about 3:30 pm, and then the pump manufacturer's crew showed up around 4:00 pm, things began to move. It turns out that, because of the shutdown sensors not being wired in, the only way to run the pumps for startup was manually via the variable frequency drive controls. So after checking rotation on the motor (which was marked backwards - whee!) the pump guy bolted up the shaft coupling, and we started running the pump manually. They had enough water in the tank for around an hour of run time.

The pump worked as advertised. But we were unable to get the PID control loop setup to control the pump motor RPM according to the flowmeter reading compared to a set point. While we were struggling with that, the pump guys found a problem with the second pump, that they started working on.

That's about where we were when we lost the light and had to quit. So we headed home, arriving around 11 pm.

When we were up there Saturday, it was clear and hot. On this trip, it drizzled all day long. Today it is even worse, and G is going back to the job site to complete the setup. I wasn't needed for this trip. I hope he has better luck than we've been having.

-Pop

Confusion on the Job

2007-09-03T07:48:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

It was supposed to be a three-day weekend (Labor Day), but one of our major customers wanted to do a start-up on a pump system located a couple hundred miles from here, on Saturday. It worked out that I needed to take my Jeep, so I got up at 5 AM, left as soon as I could get ready, taking my one cup of coffee with me.

Let me tell you about coffee - if I don't get that first cup of coffee, it is not safe for me to be on the road. Besides that, I get the standard caffeine headache if I don't get enough in the mornings. Usually I drink 3-4 cups, but on this day I only got one. Amazingly enough, I didn't get a headache that day.

In any case, my GPS took me directly to the job site about three hours later, arriving around 8:30 AM. My boss, G, was there about an hour ahead of me. He's way more energetic than I am. Also younger. When I caught up with him, he told me they weren't ready for us, by a long shot. See, to dial in the controls on these pumps, certain things have to be done. There was steady work being done by a herd of electricians, but they were still wiring in the controls, and the two 600 HP motors. The flow meters and level detectors weren't wired up. For that matter, the level detectors hadn't even been installed. And finally, the tanks need to have a lot of water in them so we'd have something to pump. There was maybe 2 - 3 feet of water in the tanks - nowhere near enough. At least a couple of days worth of work.

We had a controls programming guy flying in from somewhere - he was at the local airport. We also had two people there from the pump manufacturer, who drove about 500 miles to get there. There was me and G who each drove 200 miles one way to get there. And there was a level detector rep also supposed to be on his way, also from our area.

So, we all sat around for a couple of hours waiting for the customer's manager to show up. I took a whole lot of digital pictures, as we find them immensely useful at times, and then cooled my heels waiting. Had to move down the concrete curb we were sitting on every so often as the shadows moved. Watched this ant crawl around wondering how the heck he wound up in this rocky desert (they spread crushed rock all over the job site for a driving surface).

Eventually, the manager (J) showed up. I understand he's over several sites like this in the area. Anyhow, he and G walked around looking at stuff and in a few minutes he had agreed we weren't doing anything useful by being there today, and it would probably be Tuesday at the soonest and maybe later. So we were dismissed.

So we scattered, all going our separate directions. G went to meet his family in the Houston area for the holiday - I went back home, arriving around 3 PM. Had to stop and walk around several times on the way back when I was trying to nod off. Driving always puts me to sleep, especially in the afternoons and evenings.

All of this business is, of course, finance driven. Ultimately the customer knows that every day he is not pumping, he's losing money. So that justifies it, in their minds. And from my company's standpoint, willingness to jump when the customer says frog is part of our customer service. We get business that others don't get, because of it. Again, finance driven.

I don't mind doing what I need to do - as long as the effort isn't wasted. I am more than a little perturbed because our customer apparently thinks so little of our efforts that they don't care if they waste them.
Why did this false alarm happen? It is simply not possible that the people on site didn't realize they weren't ready. I'm not going to speculate on the actual reasons, but it surely demonstrates two things - amazing lack of coordination on our customer's part; and a likewise amazing indifference to the disruption of personal plans of the several people (and their families!) who's time was wasted and who's holiday weekends were wrecked, completely without reason.

As for me personally, I'm not really mad about it in this case. As it happened, the only plans of mine that were disrupted (this time) was a work day around the house. I'm certain that no malice was involved, and G was operating on the information given to him. It just frustrates me how wasteful the whole thing was. I place high value on my time off work - I work to live, I don't live to work. But if G requires me to be somewhere on a Saturday, that's where I'll be if I can. Besides being my boss, he is my friend - a unique relationship, in my experience.

But the next time this customer shouts 'frog', I may not be quite so quick to jump. What goes around comes around.

-Pop

I Love You, Pop!

2007-08-29T14:03:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

"I love you, Pop!" - my grand-daughter.

If there is a better reason for living, I don't know what it is.

- Pop

9 Guns for Every 10 Americans

2007-08-29T09:42:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Friends;

There's an article on foxnews.com here that says that there are 9 guns for every 10 Americans. This means there's not enough guns out there (grin).

Seriously, though - one interesting factoid in this article is that it states "The figures dispel the idea that gun ownership and high levels of violence necessarily go hand in hand"... and "There's no clear relationship between more guns and higher levels of violence."

I already knew this from other sources, but it's nice how these studies keep rolling in. Now, if we could only get the anti-gunners to look at the actual facts! An excellent source of more confirmed information is Gun Facts.

The ability of the general public to effectively defend themselves, on the spot in real time, is the greatest deterrent to violent crime. Taking this ability away from the law-abiding public (by passing anti-gun laws which only affect law-abiding citizens) consistently results in a general rise in violent crime.

Addendum: I do not support the idea that everybody should have a gun. However, I do believe that they should be available to all mentally healthy, law abiding citizens for home self-defense or hunting - and it should be legal to carry open or concealed when suitably trained and licensed. I do think training similar to current CHL program should be required to carry in public, primarily so that the person involved has a good understanding of the law relating to lethal force.

-Pop

My Shortest Prayer

2007-08-28T14:50:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

My shortest prayer:

"Dear Jesus!"

This said between leaving the saddle of the motorcycle and hitting the ground. Walked away without a scratch. Sometime around 1971. I found this convincing, and got saved shortly thereafter.

-Pop

My Daily Prayer

2007-08-28T13:52:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Folks;

Every day, I pray this prayer, or some variation:

Dear Lord;
Thank you for this new day, Lord. It's beautiful.
Thank you for the love in my life, first for Your amazing love for me, and also for the love You have sent to me by way of my family.
Please forgive me for my sins, and help me to repent of them so that I may live a life more pleasing to you.
Please take care of my family, and bring them home safe at the end of the day. Most especially, R., D., T., J., J. and me. Please also take care of my extended family and friends. Protect them from accident and illness, harm and evil of any sort. Most especially, T.
Strengthen me against the day, and help me to do Thy will above my own, this day, and every day.
According to Thy will, so be it.
In Jesus' name, Amen.

'Nuff said.
-Pop

Pump Laws

2007-08-24T09:43:00.000-05:00

(These will probably be revised frequently.)

Pump Laws

General
We only have one customer, and you're it! (Snort!)

Delivery

EVERYBODY lies about delivery. Except US. WE just pass on the lies told to us by our suppliers. I've been here more than five years and have seen exactly three pumps arrive on or before the date promised by the manufacturer. You know this - why are you acting surprised?
Titanium pump parts are to be quoted with a delivery of ‘Someday- if you're lucky!’.

Warranty

Warranty does NOT cover operator screw-ups or damage caused by lack of maintenance.
Warranty also does not cover electric motors that were submerged for three days in a flood.
We do not ship certain types of pumps with oil in the bearing housing. The fact that your non-english-speaking field crew can't read the tags that tell you to put oil in the pump before startup is not our fault. Warranty does not cover damage caused by operating the pump without oil in the bearing housing.

Operator / Owner Head Space

Turning the motor backwards is a BAD THING!
Turning the plunger pump on with the discharge valved shut is a VERY BAD THING! (We have seen parts from the resulting explosion take most of a minute to hit the ground!)
The fact that your mission-critical pump is down, and you have not purchased sufficient spare parts for it, is NOT OUR FAULT!
And the fact that it will take 14 weeks to get the parts is also NOT OUR FAULT!

Mouse for the MacBook Pro

2007-08-22T07:24:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

If you hearken back to the pages on switching over to Macintosh, you will remember that the biggest single problem I had was this Logitech VX Revolution mouse. I went through some teething problems and a couple of different versions of the Logitech software. The entire time I've been using it (six months?) the biggest problem was that it goes to sleep, and takes as many as 20 to 30 seconds to wake back up.

I finally uninstalled the Logitech software entirely - and installed the $20 SteerMouse drivers instead.

Problem solved. Everything works, hesitation problem solved. I am a happy camper.

Logitech, take note - your hardware is good but your Mac support absolutely sucks!

-Pop

About Separation of Church and State

2007-08-09T08:52:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

I have read the Constitution of the United States and amendments, and it does not say anywhere that religion must be kept separate from government.

What it does say is that the government is not allowed to MANDATE a specific religion as the state religion.

The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

If I choose to freely exercise my religion in a public school or a courtroom, the First Amendment declares that the laws of the U.S. may not prohibit me from doing so. That's what it says!

Get over it, all you left-wingers.

-Pop

About the Constitution of the United States

2007-08-09T08:27:00.000-05:00

Hi, Everybody;

There seems to be a prevailing opinion in some quarters that the protections of personal rights codified in the Constitution of the United States and amendments applies to everybody, even terrorists who are not US citizens.

I disagree. The Constitution is the foundation of U.S. law and only applies to U.S. citizens.

If foreigners want the protection of the U.S. Constitution, they need to apply for citizenship.

-Pop

About Illegal Immigration

2007-08-09T08:22:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

A simple question or three about illegal immigration:

Did each individual illegal immigrant break a U.S. or state law? - Yes, by definition.
What is the law they broke? - They entered the U.S. illegally.
What is the penalty for breaking that law? - Deport them.
That seems simple enough...

Now, for those who wish to stay here:
Is there in place a method by which a person can immigrate to the U.S.? - yes.
Why don't the immigrants use it? - Just guessing here, but maybe because it takes too long? Or maybe, because if they were here legally they'd have to pay taxes (after all, right now they get free schooling, medical care, etc. that I have to pay for)?

Now, for the U.S. and state governments:
Why are we not enforcing our laws?

Just curious...
-Pop

I've Seen...

2007-08-06T11:57:00.000-05:00

Howdy, everybody;

I am 53+ years old, born November 1953; and while that's not just REAL old, I've seen enough that the changes are pretty interesting. To me, anyway. The following list is some of the things I've seen, that I personally remember. They may not be in chronological order. I am not passing judgement on these things, bad and good things are both represented here. This is not a list I got off the internet, and it is not history I looked up in books that happened in the time I've been here - I actually remember these things, either having seen them directly or in the news at the time they happened:

I remember hearing about Sputnik, the very first man-made satellite of the Earth, announced on the radio while riding into town with my Dad in his pickup truck.

I remember seeing (live, I think, on black & white TV) the assassination of President Kennedy. I remember everyone being upset about it.

I remember before Lady Bird Johnson had clover planted in all the roadsides of Texas. And I remember when littering became recognized as a problem.

I watched on TV the launch of John Glenn in Friendship 7.

I remember before and after racial integration in the schools. I remember when our family doctor also treated black people - but they had a separate door into the clinic.

I remember when gifts were only given on birthdays and at Christmas, and it was unusual to get more than a few gifts. Christmas advertising started after Thanksgiving.

In America, you were (and are) free to worship whatever religion you want to. But back then we didn't mind having Christmas and prayer in schools, and it was Christian. Religious freedom was not a big deal, because everybody had it. I didn't go to your mosque, and you didn't come to my Baptist church, but either of us could if you wanted to. And you'd be welcome, at least around here. Everybody was happy with this, as far as I could see.

I remember my family getting air conditioning in a window unit in the living room of our house when I was around 12 years old. Winter heating was a gas stove at one end of the house - the end opposite my bedroom. In mid-winter, it got almost as cold inside as out in my bedroom. I was around 16 years old before I lived anywhere with central air conditioning and heat.

When I was 13 years old, we got our first color TV. Dad had shot the black & white one with his .22, but that's another story. We all looked forward to Bonanza, that being one of the few color shows at the time. We could only get four channels, and that was on a good day. Any three of them were pretty clear.

I remember when an old black man that was a good friend of my Dad passed away. Dad sat in his truck, crying - but he wouldn't go to the funeral. That generation is now gone, and people today don't think like that so much. I have seen progress against prejudice in my lifetime, but it does seem to be slow going, mainly because what a person is taught when young stays with them their whole lives, against all reason.

I remember being on a party line for the telephone. For those of you who have never had this experience, it means that (in our case) six families shared one line. Each family had a different ring. If you picked up the phone, you could hear the other people talking. Eavesdropping was commonplace. Some people would leave the phone off the hook so nobody (six families!) could use the phone until they were through with it. There was a lonely old elderly black lady who would talk for hours at a time. I think I was a teenager before we got a private line, which was one phone shared by our whole family. Nowadays I frequently see children with personal cell phones, as well as internet access.

I watched many other rocket launches on TV, of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. I remember specifically a Gemini launch that I got to see on TV at school - I think in the fourth grade.

I remember the first international phone call made via satellite. I don't remember who it was from or to, except I think it was our President on our end. But it was on TV, and I got to watch his end of the conversation.

I remember the first time I ever saw anybody with a full beard. It was my very first hippy, walking down Highway 80. This was in my early teens.

I watched Neal Armstrong's first steps on the moon. If I recall, it was about 2:30 AM where we were, and I watched it live with my Dad. I thought maybe someday I'd get to go. But I really wanted to go to Mars. Shucks, I'd go now if they were getting up a group.

Speaking of my Dad (and Mom) I remember when more people smoked than didn't. Thank God that seems to be changing. On the other hand, I didn't become aware of a drug problem until I got into high school, and even then I never saw any.

I remember getting my first .22 rifle (a very nice Browning) when I was 13 years old, and nobody thought anything about it. My dad mostly taught gun safety by example (how not to do things). I shot a hole in the floorboard of the VW the same day I got the gun. Educational!

My first car was a Volkswagon Beetle. It didn't have seat belts. It didn't have air conditioning, either. It did have a good AM radio, but that was about it. My second car (a '65 Mustang) did have a lap belt for the driver only, but it also had no air or FM radio. Nor any sort of tape player. I remember the advent of 8-track, then later cassettes, then much later, CD's and DVD's. I remember how neat it was the first time I rode in a car with cruise control. I remember gas was $0.26 per gallon and I could fill up my Mustang for $5, give or take.

I remember when you could watch TV all evening if you wanted to, without seeing anybody die or cuss. If somebody got shot, there was no blood. I remember when homosexuality did not happen on TV. I was probably in my mid teens before I learned that there was such a thing. I remember when it was rare to see a black person on TV. And back then, many movie actors really were fit to be role models. Today, not so much.

I remember the hostages in Iran. It should be noted that Iran's current President Ahmadinejad has been identified as one of the actual people holding the 66 diplomats hostage. I also remember Carter's screwed up rescue attempt.

I remember foosball, fondly. I wonder if I can still do it. I remember playing Pong on one of the original machines. It wasn't very impressive at the time. I dislocated my shoulder one time playing air-hockey. Other than Pong, the first time I ever played a video game was after I had kids of my own.

I remember medical insurance that wasn't a hassle, and that paid generously. It was before HMO's.

I remember sitting in my VW at school with some friends, listening to the broadcast draft lottery for the Vietnam War, in 1970. This was a draw based on your birthday. I was number 126 and didn't get called up, although it was close. One of my friends got number 6. His birthday was Christmas Day, as I recall.

I watched the very first Space Shuttle launch, and many succeeding flights. I have seen a Shuttle re-entry with my own eyes one night; watched it go by, went in the house and watched it land in Florida ten minutes later, on TV.

I was excited by the first pictures from the surface of Mars. And also all the pictures sent back from Jupiter and Saturn vicinity. And the "Pale Blue Dot" is an absolutely awesome picture, taken of Earth from 3.7 billion miles away. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Blue_Dot

I remember when the very best photograph of Saturn was a grainy blob on a page. And they actually thought there might possibly be dinosaurs on Venus, and intelligent life on Mars. Now, of course, we have photos taken locally at these places. I remember when there was no map of the far side of the moon, and how breathtaking the picture of earth-rise on the moon was (and still is). You can see it here.

I heard with my own ears, but did not see, the destruction of Space Shuttle Columbia. At the time, I didn't realize what it was I was hearing; I found out a few minutes later when the news bulletins came in.

I remember when there was only one phone company, and all phones had wires! I remember the advent of cell phones. I also remember when a cell phone wasn't anything but a phone. I remember when there were no personal computers. Or calculators. I trained for a year and went to state UIL competition for slide rules, which were obsolete one year later.

The only computer programming class I ever had, as a freshman in college, was on a computer that took input on punched cards. I owned at least three personal computers before there were graphical interfaces. I remember, and used, CP/M, DOS, OS/2, BeOS, Windows, Windows 95, NT, XP and now Vista and Mac OS X. My two CP/M based computers had Z-80A processors at 4.0 Mhz (not Gigahertz), 64K of ram (that's Kilobytes, not Gigabytes) and did not have hard drives. Floppies held 110 kilobytes. The operating system fit in 4 kilobytes.

I owned at least six computers before there was an internet. I remember CompuServe and a 300 bps modem on a Kaypro. I spent ten years of my career making drawings by hand, before there was CAD that could be used on a personal computer. I remember when somebody that knew what they were doing with computers was respected more than a plumber.

I remember before 911 - and how things have changed since then. And I remember exactly where I was when I heard about it.

That's enough for today. Have a nice day!
-Pop

Pet Peeve - Cell Phones on the Road

2007-08-01T16:45:00.000-05:00

Howdy everybody;

Today, I went to the bank at lunch, it being payday and everything. This is normally something that pretty much uses up my lunch break.

In traffic I got behind this person whom I couldn't pass and who was going 20 mph under the limit. Talking on a cell phone. A few minutes later I followed an SUV around a corner, and this wacko split the lanes after he turned, so I couldn't get around him/her. Again, 15 or 20 mph under the limit. When this person finally picked a lane and I could get around them, I saw the driver talking on a cell phone.

Listen, people: slowing down while driving and talking on a cell phone is NOT enough to compensate for your lack of attention to your driving! If you're going to drive, drive; if you're not going to drive, get off the freaking road!

I don't understand how people can be so freaking stupid. First, it's rude. Second, it's annoying to everybody else. And Third, it's dangerous.

If you just MUST talk on the phone, pull over and let the rest of us by! No matter who you are talking to, tell them to hold up while you find a place to park. I know you super-geniuses out there think you can do both, but let me explain it to you - no, you can't. If you are driving a car, and not giving it your full attention, you don't need to be on the road.

If this message has offended you, then you are most likely one of those who would offend me if I encountered you on the road.

-Pop

A Texan in New York City - being a Tourist

2007-07-20T08:37:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

We visited many places in NYC; I'll hit some of the high points here.

The Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island -
Our son had acquired online ferry tickets and the other ticket you need for access to the inside of the base of the Statue of Liberty. The instructions said to get there a couple of hours early, so we did, and had only a short wait (in a tent with several hundred people) before getting on the ferry. I should mention that you go through airport-type security to get on the ferry. We quickly grabbed seats on the top of the boat, and the view was excellent - until the ferry finished loading and people started standing at the rail around the deck. At that point, we couldn't see much. The short ride delivered us to the island, where we debarked (I've always wanted to 'debark' somewhere! Now there's no bark on me anywhere!). OK, that was lame. Deal with it.

We ate breakfast at the little snack bar near the dock, then walked around the outside taking our time, taking pictures. The ticket for access into the statue has a time range when you have to show up, so we weren't in any hurry. Around on the other side we saw the line to enter the statue base, so we went ahead and got in line. I should mention that you go through airport type security AGAIN to visit the statue. After 30 or 45 minutes, we got to the front of the line - we thought. It turned out that we were just entering a big tent. It had the serpentine lines set up in it, with another several hundred people in it. We looked around a bit, and it exited - into another tent. When we looked in the door, we saw ANOTHER tent with serpentine lines. At that point, we abandoned trying to get in, not wanting to spend the next 2-3 hours standing in line.

We then boarded the ferry to Ellis Island, which is where the immigrants used to enter and be processed by the government. This is now a historical museum, with exhibits. If you're interested in that sort of thing this is a good place to go. Outside there is a circular wall that surrounds a courtyard, maybe 150 feet across, that has the names listed of the immigrants. I'm sure this is for a specific time span, but I don't know what that is. There were about three columns of my family listed, one or more of which was my direct ancestors, I am sure.

One group I did notice while out on the islands was Amish. There were actually several groups, but they all appeared to know each other. I noticed one lady in traditional dress, but wearing modern sneakers. No judgment here, just thought it was interesting - the Amish have virtually no presence in East Texas.

And then we ferried back to Manhattan Island and continued our visit.

Museum of Natural History -
We walked from Central Park over to the Museum of Natural History, and made our way inside. This was not like I expected - I always visualized a big museum to be more like a library with exhibits. This was more like an 8th grade cafeteria at lunchtime. We got in a line to buy tickets to the things we were interested in, and then proceeded to go find them. First we went to the planetarium and watched a show about planetary collisions. The show was good, but we should have gotten seats nearer the edge - I had trouble seeing some portions because of my bifocals and not being able to turn my head far enough.

Then, we headed to the dinosaurs, something I had always wanted to see. This was my first time ever to see full-size dinosaur skeletons, even though I am aware almost all of them are actually replicas. It gives you a sense of scale you'll never get from books or movies. Wow. Worth the visit.

After that we left, earlier than anticipated, due partly to the crowding which I find uncomfortable, and partly due to a mild medical issue of mine.

And that's all I'm covering this time. Have a nice day!

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A Texan in New York City - Explosions and Bomb Scares

2007-07-19T10:03:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

Funny how things just happen in New York City. First, on Tuesday 7/17/07 somebody leaves a container of used clothes at the Library, and it clears the library and several surrounding city blocks while the police bomb squad checks it out. Then, on Wednesday, 7/18/07, a steam line blows, taking a big chunk of road with it, killing or injuring several people, in an intersection two blocks over and one block down from the entrance to Grand Central Terminal. We walked those same streets last week.

I'm glad we missed both incidents. Our son saw the cloud, but he was far enough away that he didn't attach any significance to it until he saw the news. This is a Good Thing.

Where we live, one time a pickup truck caught on fire across the road at a (now defunct) gas station. Since several other people were coping with the fire and our help wasn't necessary, we got out the lawn chairs and watched the show. Well, not really- we didn't Actually get out the lawn chairs. But we thought about it. This was high excitement around here.

There was in fact a gas line blowout over near my niece's house a few years ago - major big flames going high in the air. So far as I can remember, nobody got hurt. And, also years ago, Texas Eastman suffered several explosions over several years. People died in some of those incidents. Rattled the glass at my house, some 16 miles away. So I guess there's always some risk of the infrastructure going wrong.

Sometimes, boredom is a good thing.

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A Texan in New York City - #2

2007-07-18T10:05:00.000-05:00

Howdy, everybody;

It's really interesting to me how I keep thinking about this trip to New York City from which I just returned. I find myself wanting to go back, to explore things at more leisure. NYC has a curious sort of fascination to me, now that I've actually seen it.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think I'd ever want to live there. But it would be nice if I had the resources that would allow me to explore it a bit less hurriedly. I'd like to sit somewhere quiet and watch people go by for a couple of hours. I'd like to explore the museum a lot more.

They had a bomb scare at the New York Public Library yesterday, and it was interesting to see places I recognized on Fox News. (Turned out to be a sack of discarded clothing.)

All in all, a positive trip. I suspect we'll go again.

I plan to make a couple of more entries here about specific parts of our trip, such as our visit to the Statue of Liberty (some people actually do buy those foam hats), and Central Park, and the Museum of Natural History.

Have a nice day!

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A Texan in New York City - First Impressions

2007-07-16T20:11:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

My wife and I went on a visit to New York City in July 2007, to spend some time with our son. Talk about culture shock! From what passes for rural living in East Texas to probably the densest city in the United States. Educational.

Disclaimer: We only visited Astoria, and areas south of West 72nd Street. If anything I say here is not true elsewhere in NYC, please forgive me. We flew in on a Wednesday and flew out on the following Sunday, so exposure was not all-inclusive or complete by any means. Also affecting my perspective, is the fact that I am an introvert. What follows is a lot of random observations. Before you get mad, read the whole thing. Also, bear in mind that some of what sounds critical is actually just observation, and itself is part of the experience of going.

The people in New York City are an incredible mix of races, religions, nationalities, ages, physical types, languages, and you-name-it. Walking along most major avenues, or riding the subways, you will frequently hear several different languages. New Yorkers have a bit different perspective on personal space. When walking it is usually easy to find a way through the crowd, although you will do a lot of weaving. On subways you will frequently be standing very close to other people, as if you were in an elevator. And yet, in the subways and elsewhere, most of the time no one will meet your eyes or greet you. And any time a group goes through a constriction, such as a door or the stairs at the subway, you will be in contact with those around you. Nobody thinks twice about this. So far as I saw, people are pretty forgiving of bumps and shoves. But I carried my wallet in my front pants pocket.

I noticed that, walking down the street, you will see lots more New Yorkers smoking, than in East Texas. In the same block you might see evening dress on down to rags. I saw two or three people living in boxes on the sidewalk, and another time we saw a homeless person sleeping in the famous 'Love' sign. We stood in front of him to get our picture taken with the sign.

Most of the shops are old, small, many are multi-floor, and yet they do have quality goods generally. For instance, Thursday morning we had breakfast at a bagel shop on the corner - pick your stuff, pay for it, go upstairs to eat while watching the street. The guy who takes your money is polite until he gets it and makes change, but after that he has no more time for you. Next! Prices are generally high - I paid between $5 and $6 for each of three different milk shakes. Bottled water from the numerous street vendors sells for between $2 and $4 a bottle. Hotels and apartments are expensive.

The pavement is dirty unless it is new. Amazing used bubble gum patterns. In the morning, fetid, stinking steam rises from the sewer gratings. And taxi drivers are crazy - one of them told us so.

Subways actually surprised me at how effective they are at getting you from one place to another. You buy a metro card for the time you need, and ride the subways or busses. In the many places we went, guided by our son, most of the time you were within a block or two of a subway station at either end. Generally the wait is not excessive, and it is an effective way to get around. The subway cars are not excessively dirty, and bless them, they are air conditioned. Some are newer than others, and the noise level varies. About one in three people have an iPod stuck in their ear. Nobody meets your eyes. The major killer for me was the walking. I weigh about 260 pounds; after you ride 5 or 6 subways in a day, you've gone up and down numerous stairs, plus the walking at both ends - you're doing a lot of work. So I think the natives are probably generally in better shape than yours truly, who has a desk job.

Central Park is very well done. Everything is mowed, lots of rock formations with glacier scars, grassy areas, trees, paved paths, fountains, benches, very nice. Squirrels and birds are not afraid of people. Hint -you cannot feed just one bird. If you try, you get a flock. Like the city, a wild mix of people come by, if you sit for a while. One individual was either deranged or high, walked by, talking loudly to himself. Don't make eye contact with crazy people. (Maybe that's why nobody else makes eye contact! They think I'm crazy!)

There are some things in NYC that just aren't anywhere else. And some of the things that are elsewhere are done with more class in NYC. For instance, the Apple store under the glass cube is really, really cool.

In no particular order, I was very impressed with Central Park; the view from the observation deck of the Rockefeller Center; the Statue of Liberty; the Museum of Natural History; the Brooklyn Bridge; the St. Patrick Cathedral; and the city itself. The city seems to have taken care to have little parks and fountains, or cozy little places with benches, randomly located in each neighborhood so that it feels like a lived in place - not just all brick and mortar. Each of these things really needs it's own article, but that will have to wait.

Oh, yeah, we went to see the Blue Man Group. Absolutely awesome - highly recommended.

All in all, I am glad we went, and we'll probably go again. We had a good time. After this experience, I think everybody should go there at least once - it's a whole different world.

To be continued...

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My Dad - the Back Fence

2007-07-05T16:22:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Friends;

Once, when I was 14 or 15 years old, I was spending a summer day helping my Dad and a couple of other guys put a barbed-wire fence down the back side of the property. This fence was in a heavily wooded and grown up area, so the method involved walking down the fence line with a chain saw cutting everything in the way, to make a road big enough for the truck. We'd do this maybe 100 yards at a time, then go back for the truck. Once we got to the end, we'd string wire and use the truck to throw off posts, etc.

Anyhow, at one rest period I got sent back for the truck. It was a red GMC truck, probably at that time 5 or 6 years old, bought used. I was driving it to where everybody else was resting, and I went in between two little tree stumps left from our cutting. Unfortunately, they were about two inches too close together. I got out to see how bad the damage was, and saw that I had wrinkled the sheet metal down both sides of the truck. Dad was going to kill me, no doubt about it.

So, fearing for my life, I proceeded with the truck to where Dad was sitting at the foot of a tree, having a beer. I pulled up across from him and got out, walked over to him.

I said, "Dad, see the sheet metal on the side of your truck?". He said, in a grim voice, "Yep."

I said, "Well, the other side looks just like it."

He got to laughing so hard that he never punished me for it.

I told you that one, so I could tell you this one.

Much, much later, my son Richard was learning to drive. I think he was probably 14 or 15. He had reached the point of soloing in our big yard, in my Ford Ranger, and he was sort of circling the house and my mother's mobile home. I had gone inside for a minute, but happened to be looking out the back window as he came around the mobile home. He cut it a little close and clipped the tongue of the trailer with the side of the truck, putting a little dent behind the door. Shook the mobile home pretty well, too. Of course he stopped to check the damage.

I came out the back door, laughing, and he got mad (I think) because he thought I was laughing at him. But I was actually laughing because I had done the same dang thing, pretty much, twenty-some-odd years before, and I thought it was hilarious. Maybe it's genetic, thought I.

When young people are first learning to drive, you just have to expect this kind of thing. Getting mad about it doesn't help - it's part of the job description of a parent to be patient about this kind of thing. Neither he, nor I, set out to dent the various trucks - it just takes some practice to learn how to judge that sort of thing.

Be patient with your kids.

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My Dad - the Gas Tank

2007-07-05T16:04:00.000-05:00

Howdy Everybody;

My dad was a welder, and he definitely had his own way about him.

Once, when my oldest boy was somewhat less than two years old, I had reason to walk down to my dad's shop to talk to him about something or other. I was carrying Richard, because the ground and debris down there wouldn't be safe for a child.

I was standing there talking to dad while he was working on a truck for somebody. The body was off the truck, and it looked like maybe the frame of a pulp-wood truck, being a dually on the back and kind of a long frame on it.

Anyhow, he was trying to get the gas tank off the frame. It was on the inside of the frame, bolted through the frame with a big nut on the outside. He was working on it with a box-end wrench, and not having much luck. While we were talking, he throws down the wrench and reaches around and puts on his cutting goggles. Then he picks up his torch and ignites it.

I said, "Dad? Are you planning on cutting that bolt off that gas tank there?" and he said "Yes, why?".

I said "Wait a minute."

And I carried Richard out away from the shop, about 50 or 60 feet away in the driveway. I turned around, and shouted at him, "OK - Go ahead!".

He looked at me; and he looked at his torch; and he looked at this gas tank. Then he cut off the torch, took his goggles off, and went and got a cold chisel to cut the nut off.

It's amazing he lived long enough to have children, much less grand-children.

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Examine the Evidence!

2007-07-05T15:21:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Friends!

It is important to make decisions and select belief systems based on as much factual information as you can get your brain around. The facts are your guide to understanding what is around you.

Apply critical thought, and do the research required to understand the subject at hand. For instance, take the age of the earth. Many Christian fundamentalists think the earth is only a few thousands of years old. They base this on conclusions drawn by theologians without any science involved at all. This is, however, a belief, a wish, and is not supported by observed fact. To disagree with mainstream science about such a topic (which says that the earth is about 4.54 billion years old) is not reasonable. (Remember, the church was also absolutely convinced (wrongly) that the sun rotated around the earth, to the point of executing people who studied the subject and came to have a different view.)

If a person is going to have an informed opinion on the subject of the age of the earth, he should take the time to study where the 4.54 billion year figure came from. Study the methods of measurement used. Look at the consensus view among geologists who study this subject for a living. Get into it deeply enough that you understand the basis for that view. If you find dissenting views, study them to see if they have any scientific basis (in this case, I haven't seen any). Do all this before you commit to a decision. Then, if you really are convinced that all those scientists are, every one of them, wrong, you are prepared to argue your case. But it is far more likely that you will come to accept the general view of the age of the earth, if you pursue this honestly. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence to support this view.

Please note also that there is nothing in the Bible that contradicts the long age of the earth - it is possible without straining to reconcile everything in the Bible with observed scientific fact. Or at least, I have found it to be so.

Somebody, somewhere, is going to say, "What about miracles?". Now, Biblical miracles are, individually, one of two things - either they are exercises of unfamiliar phenomena that do not contradict the physical laws of the universe, or they are the real McCoy - God himself reaching into our universe and changing things. And, guess what? True science does not have an opinion about miracles. Because they are, lets admit it, pretty difficult to study.

So, science is incapable of ruling out miracles. Good thing, because I choose to believe in miracles. Some scientists will refuse to believe in them, and that's their call - but if they are honest as scientists, they will admit that they cannot prove or disprove the existence of miracles or God.

Science is like a flashlight in your hand, in a huge dark cavern. Whatever can be illuminated with the flashlight of science is well lit, and can be examined and learned about. Wherever the flashlight can't reach, or isn't pointed at, is unknown. Science is a good tool for learning about the universe, but it cannot ever rule out the existence of things outside it's reach. Such as the existence of God.

By the same token, any belief in God has to tolerate the findings of science, unless it can be shown, using scientific methods, that the prevailing scientific view is wrong.

This is because the methods employed by science do work effectively. Any hypothesis or theory put forth by science is subject to change or removal by the addition of new facts which alter the original view. Therefore, dissenting views can be expressed - if you can back them up with observation and fact. And, in God's universe, when all is said and done, science will illuminate God's creation with the light of truth.

Until next time -
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Changes in the Way the World Works

2007-06-29T13:53:00.000-05:00

Hi, Everybody!

I've been thinking again. Watch out.

We are actually witnessing the beginning of a change in the way the world works. I haven't seen anyone else make this connection, but then it may be obvious to everybody but me.

Historically, there have been two major types of human organization on Earth. The first type is described by the concept of the nation. It has the following characteristics:

1. It is geographically fixed, with borders that normally do not move. You can find these borders on a map.

2. It is a group of people with a common goal to protect the nation in which they live, as an extension of self-defense. This is called nationalism, and in an individual is called patriotism.

3. Historically almost all wars were fought between these nations, up until about 20 years ago. These wars have generally been about either resources (including territory) or about ideology of government.

The second type of organization transcends national borders. They may have members in many countries. They have the following characteristics:

1. The organization has no fixed borders.

2. Members of these groups have an allegiance to the organization which sometimes exceeds the individual's allegiance to the country in which they live.

3. Most such organizations share some sort of belief system, or at least philosophy.

There are three major subspecies of this transnational type of organization. They are:

1. Terrorist organizations, such as Al Quaida

2. Regular religious organizations, such as the Catholic Church

3. Major international corporations, such as Exxon or Microsoft

Historically, transnational organizations have influenced national governments by political or financial leverage (such as is wielded by the Catholic Church or Microsoft).

However, we are now witnessing the manifestation of militant activist or terrorist transnational organizations which do and will continue to play a major part in the political life of the planet. These groups exert influence through force of arms, propaganda and outright control of certain conventional governments. They are extra-legal in the sense that, as an organization, they are not bound by the laws of any country; although their individual members are nominally bound by local law.

This 'paradigm shift' is radically changing the way politics works, as well as the way war is waged. As we have seen, conventional warfare works well against nations, but not so well when the enemy doesn't have borders. Different strategies will have to evolve. A nation fighting these borderless organizations is like a man swatting bees. You can swat a few, but it is very difficult to get them all. Note that these transnationals even have representation in our government (through their members who are in our government, or who vote), as well as directly controlling certain other governments, so even our internal political scene is affected. This is why unlimited (legal or illegal) immigration is such a bad idea.

It's similar to the mental shift that was a result of the American Revolution. Up until then, armies lined up in neat rows to shoot at each other. The colonists, on the other hand, shot from behind trees and rocks. The British thought this was not 'cricket', but they had to change the way they did things to accommodate this new tactic. Fortunately for us they didn't change their tactics until after the American Revolution was settled.

I don't know how this is going to play out, but the variety of different viewpoints present in our population, bolstered by legal and illegal immigration, and liberalism vs conservatism, is playing a part in it. It wasn't like this when I was a kid, but by the time I was in high school the near-universal disgust with the Vietnam War was causing the concept of patriotism to fall out of favor at that time. It became acceptable for a US citizen to criticize the US publicly. Up until that time, it was just 'understood' that the US was the best anywhere (still true) and almost nobody questioned it. The loss of consistency in a belief in the basic wholesomeness of our country leaves the door wide open for the growth of transnational terrorist organizations within our borders.

We're all in for a wild ride - you young people more than me. Good luck.

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Are All Politicians Corrupt?

2007-06-14T09:13:00.000-05:00

Howdy, everybody;

Are all politicians corrupt? Probably not, but it does seem to be hard to find those that aren't. The Democrats, notably Pelosi and others, won the last mid-term election partly on the basis of Republican corruption. Their platform was 'end the war' and 'clean up corruption in congress'. Now it is obvious that the Democrats are just as bad or worse than the Republicans.

Pelosi wants special privileges regarding air travel for members of congress, to be paid by taxpayers. In some case military transport where none was required before, and in other cases adult children of members of congress - all paid by the taxpayer. Why are these people suddenly privileged? Don't these members of congress make enough money to buy their own tickets?

More important is the issue of earmarks in the process of creating bills in congress. The Democrats made a lot of noise about cleaning up earmarks, which are basically funding for pet projects of individual congress-critters that are tacked on to another more major piece of legislation, so that it gets passed along with the main bill in order to get anything done at all. This has been going on for a long time, and is a practice that should be outright abolished, as far as I am concerned. Instead of doing what they promised at mid-term, now the Democrats are making moves to not only protect earmarks, but to make it more difficult to prevent individual earmarks from being in the final bill. Basically they are trying to remove the right to debate individual earmarks before the bill goes to vote. Good grief! Besides that, Pelosi wants to rename earmarks to help hide them! How stupid does she think we are? It didn't take the Democrats long to get greedy.

Those are just two of many issues that I've come across in my reading. To be fair, I must state that I generally vote Republican even though I am not a member of that party. But I've about had it with the two-faced performance of the Democrats in the short time they've been in office. Besides being ineffectual - something like 108 days to pass a war funding bill because of playing politics - they say what they think you want to hear, then do whatever they want. And they think we're too stupid to notice!

I'm tired of the dishonesty in our government.

The nice thing about being an American is that we get to make up our own minds about this kind of thing. So far. But we do need to pay attention to what the congress-critters are doing, or that may not be true forever.

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Rainbows and Rain

2007-06-10T07:25:00.001-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

Day before yesterday, my wife and I saw a double rainbow! We were in the local Walmart parking lot. The primary rainbow was a full rainbow, and the secondary was a really bright 1/8 of the arc on the right side, and for a moment or two very faint arc on the left side as well. The left side of the secondary faded quickly, but the right was bright for quite a while.

That's probably the second or maybe third double rainbow I've ever seen, so I thought it was notable. There are things in the universe worth marveling over, even if we do know how they are created.

Yesterday, we had weird rain. We were sitting on the front porch enjoying the evening, facing out towards the highway. It began a very light rain - on a patch of our yard to the left, maybe 50 feet across. No rain to the right, no rain to the far left - just this patch. The weird thing about it was that it was stable for maybe five minutes. I've never seen in do that before, although once when I was a kid, it was raining on one side of the house and not the other. But just to rain in one spot for five minutes or so - remarkable!

I wonder what's next?

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Belief Systems, Science, Evolution, Critical Thinking, and the Bible

2007-05-15T21:57:00.001-05:00

Howdy, everybody;

I think everyone can agree that any rational belief system must be based insofar as possible on verifiable fact, although possibly not limited to it. If you have a belief system that actually contradicts the truth, you are in serious trouble. In fact, this is the primary yardstick used to measure insanity.

Of course, having a belief system that is based on truth does not guarantee your safety (or popularity) if the majority of people around you do not share your beliefs. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake, by the church, for his belief that the earth revolves around the sun once a year. His viewpoint was dismissed out of hand by the religious leaders of his time, because they did not bother to examine the facts on which his belief was based. Had they done so, and worked out a solution as the modern day church has done, our science would probably be several hundred years advanced at this point. Of course we know now by direct observation that Bruno (as well as earlier astronomers) was correct.

My point here is that the truth, or verifiable fact, is the best tool available for exploring the universe around you and trying to understand it. Science is a system for discovering the truth (fact) with high confidence. The standard procedure in science is: a hypothesis is made; experiments are made to test the hypothesis; if verified, it becomes a theory; if disproved, it is discarded.

A lot of people throw around the word "Theory" without knowing the precise definition. In this article I use the word "theory" in it's precise definition as related to science. Sadly, most of the public, much of the media, and even some "scientists" do not use it correctly. In common (inprecise) use, the word theory is used as a synonym for hypothesis. Not in this article. The reason I am stressing this is that most people do not realize how much testing goes in to a hypothesis before it becomes a theory.

Any scientific theory has passed every test, and every attempt to disprove it has failed. A theory has a lot going for it: it has been subject to sustained efforts to prove it is wrong - and those efforts have failed. That doesn't guarantee it is absolute truth, because it may be disproved later by new information or tests; but at the moment, it is the truth as understood by science. A theory is NOT just an opinion expressed by a scientist. A theory has stood in the face of every test anyone has conceived to apply to it, without fail. In common use, people say theory when they mean hypothesis - but in the world of science, theory means a concept that has been tested and found to be true for all known cases.

Those tests mentioned above are why you sometimes hear about a theory being changed. Sometimes, new information makes some part of a theory invalid, but a change or two is made and it becomes valid again. At this point, the theory goes back through the testing phase just as when it was a hypothesis. So science is a dynamic process which is self correcting and always changing based on new knowledge.

As it happens, I am a Christian. I am also strongly science oriented. And I do not believe that it is possible that there is any conflict between observed reality and the Bible. If there is, either my facts are wrong, or I have misinterpreted the Bible. I have yet to find any observable, provable fact which actually contradicts the Bible. It's true that there are many things in the Bible which cannot be proved (or disproved) by science. That's OK. That's where the faith part comes in. But nothing I have seen in my studies has invalidated the Bible. If you think about it, that is a very strong statement for the truth of the Bible. But by the same token, bear in mind that the Bible is very much subject to interpretation - as is science.

It is necessary to reconcile observed reality and religious beliefs. Let's face it - something's got to give. If you know something is true for a fact, and you believe something that conflicts with the fact, the belief has to be adjusted or discarded. Any other solution is not rational.

Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection (evolution) has been subject to attempts to disprove it for many, many years, and so far it has not been disproved. This theory says that species evolve over time by natural selection; that is, say, a mutation occurs in an individual. If it is a useful mutation, and benefits the individual, that individual may pass it on to any children; but if it is not a useful mutation, it causes the individual to tend not to survive long enough to reproduce. This process, over long periods of time, produces change within a species, and in fact can produce new species. Note that evolution is observable in everyday life - it is the process by which dogs and horses (and many other critters) are bred.

There is another way to look at evolution that is not so widely known. It is called Theistic Evolution. This is the idea that the theory of evolution is correct in it's observable effects, but rather than random processes causing mutations and change, these things are directly controlled by God. Or alternatively, God set in motion the process of evolution because He knew it would produce the desired results. One of the interesting things about this is that the observable process is exactly the same as conventional evolution. To a dispassionate observer, the observed events of the process are identical.

This idea allows a person to reconcile this theory with a belief in God and the Bible. But since God wants our belief in Him to be based on faith, He set it up in such a way that the observable facts can be explained with Him or without Him - so each of us has to decide whether to believe in Him. This is the free choice aspect of Salvation in the Bible. Not only do you get to choose whether you want to be saved and have a personal relation with Jesus, but God set up the whole universe in such a way that you can't have that decision taken away from you by obvious facts to turn you one way or the other.

The individual is free to choose either viewpoint. The Bible says that God made us. It certainly appears that this is the way He did it. If I'm wrong about that, I'm sure He will sort me out later.

There are many other areas similar to this in science and the Bible where there is apparent conflict until you look deeper. For instance, I am struck by the apparent similarities between cosmology (the Big Bang Theory) and the book of Genesis. Even the multi-verse brane hypothesis is pretty interesting in this context. But that would be the subject of another discussion.

So it appears I have gone to some trouble to reconcile my beliefs in Jesus and the Bible and the universe as understood by science. I don't want to abandon either. Science is a valuable tool for understanding, which is very reliable; and my belief in Jesus is central to my happiness in this life (and the next one).

John 14:6 (NIV) says, "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

This shows that Jesus placed a very high premium on truth, so much so that He actually identifies Himself with it. Science is useful for discovering the universe around us, which was created by God and Jesus - this is a very valid, rational way to explore the universe.

We must be unflinching in our search for truth. It takes us where it takes us. But Jesus will be there, waiting for us, when we find Him. After all, He's the Truth.

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Gun Free Zones

2007-05-01T09:38:00.000-05:00

Howdy, friends;

Many of you will by now be aware of the huge debate over gun-free zones engendered by the Virginia Tech massacre.

Briefly stated, there are two camps:

One camp believes that gun control will solve their problems - they think that the solution is to get rid of all the guns, and all of America will become a gun-free zone. I personally think this is both impractical and naive, because if guns were outlawed, it would work about as well as prohibition did - or for that matter the current prohibition on drugs. That is to say, it just won't work, except to disarm the law-abiding victims.

The other camp believes that gun-free zones get people killed because the only people who have guns in gun-free zones are criminals - people who don't care that the law says it is a gun-free zone. So gun-free zones become kill zones.

I've been thinking about this. If a business, school or government entity wants to establish a gun-free zone, why not make them legally liable for enforcing it? After all, by taking away the right of the individual to have with them the tools of self-defense, by implication they are assuming the responsibility for the safety of the people in the gun-free zone. Require those who would inflict a gun-free zone on us to provide enough armed guards, and scanners and security personnel such as exists at the entries to the safe zone at airports, to guarantee that it really is a gun-free zone.

If the creator of the gun-free zone doesn't want to take on the responsibility (or financial burden) for the protection of the people therein, then they shouldn't have the right to remove the individual's tools of self-protection.

What the law should create at minimum is a level playing field for the good guys. Right now, the bad guys have a distinct advantage (mandated by law) since the gun-free zones are typically not enforced except at airports and courtrooms. And they know it, too.

What do you folks think?

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Pop's Dilemma

2007-04-25T10:46:00.000-05:00

"Junk expands to occupy all available storage."

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Why are Guns the Best Tool for Self Defense?

2007-04-22T07:48:00.000-05:00

Howdy, Friends;

Why do we need guns for self defense? (Note - this discussion does not apply to long guns or hunting.)

You've probably heard them called 'equalizers'. Well, they are. They allow anyone to successfully defend themselves against single or multiple large assailants. And in fact, disparity of force is one of the factors taken into account when self-defense cases go to court.

Nobody has invented anything that comes close. Pepper spray doesn't work effectively in all cases. Tazers only have one shot without reloading, so if you miss, you're defenseless. Both of these are short range, as well. Both of them likely do not perform well in the rain, for instance, although I have no data on that.

A reasonable replacement for guns for self defense would have to be something non-lethal that has all of the good characteristics of a gun, such as: multiple shots; high certainty of success; small enough to carry concealed; safe to carry; extremely reliable; decent range; will work in all weather; cannot easily be defended against; cheap enough to be able to own one, along with whatever you load it with; will cause the aggressor to not move until the cops have time to show up. Also must work on dogs, bears, snakes, etc. The science-fictional "stunner" ray gun.

Of course, as soon as somebody invents this 'stunner', and if we give up our guns, the crime rate will skyrocket. A lot more people would be willing to "pull the trigger" if it was non-lethal, as they wouldn't risk the death penalty if caught. Stunning (and robbing and raping) shoppers in the Wal-Mart parking lot would become a whole new worldwide sport. Another new sport for thugs using such a device might be to shoot drivers in passing cars on the interstate, as well. Much carnage, difficult to catch the perpetrator - thugs might see this as great fun. Think about the D.C. Serial Snipers back in 2002. Multiply that by 1000. You anti-gunners may want to be careful what you ask for.

And, such a device wouldn't be an adequate weapon for the intent of the 2nd amendment to keep the government in check. Might still need to keep a gun somewhere to help along those lines if ever needed.

Footnote: Without fail, everywhere it's been tried and all other factors the same - passage of right-to-carry laws results in a decrease in violent crime. The statistics are there if you care to look. http://www.gunfacts.info/ is a good place to start. Be aware that the far left gun-grabbers put out a lot of unsubstantiated claims and outright lies.

On reflection, I'll keep my guns. Nothing better is currently available.

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The Right to Defend Yourself

2007-04-20T16:47:00.000-05:00

Hello, All;

My heart goes out to the families and friends of the fallen at Virginia Tech. Perhaps this event has affected the timing of this entry, but I had already planned to write about self defense, so there is only a coincidental relation.

I legally carry a concealed handgun. I carry everywhere the law allows me to carry. (Those of you who know who I am, please maintain my anonymity. Thanks.)

If I had been in one of those classrooms at Virginia Tech, I probably would have died, too, because I would not have been carrying my gun in a gun free zone. Apparently, all but one of those students were also law-abiding citizens.

The law prevented that percentage of people who might have had the wherewithal to defend themselves with equal force from doing so.

The only effective weapons in the gun-free zone were held by - you guessed it - somebody who did not give a rip about whether he was breaking the law.

This is why gun control laws do not work to protect people. Again, and again - only law-abiding citizens would be de-clawed by an act of law. Even removing legal means of purchasing guns would not help - it just means that the crooks would buy guns via black market and us law-abiding citizens would not have guns. This is the achilles heel of the entire concept of gun control law - it only affects the good guys. (Here's an excellent diatribe on the practicality of gun control: http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2007/04/meditations-on-gun-control.html ).

Instead, there should be NO gun free zones. If the law trusts me (after suitable qualification) to carry in public, why are there areas where they don't trust me? In Texas, a person with a CHL permit is statistically 14 times less likely to commit a crime than the general population, and 5 1/2 times less likely to commit a violent crime. (http://www.gunfacts.info/ , page 9-10). If there were no gun-free zones, most people bent on murder would at least have to consider that someone might stop them. And indeed, if some nut case were executing everyone around you and you had a gun (or other weapon), wouldn't you try to take him down? Therefore, if you and I are together somewhere, you are safer with me than you would be without me.

How about the police? Why can't they defend you? Well, for one thing, chances are, they're not where you are at any given moment. The police are a deterrent, and they sometimes catch the baddies after it's all over, but they are not usually on hand to actually protect you. This is not putting them down, this is just the way the universe works. You must ultimately take responsibility for your own self defense.

Everyone should understand - there are predators among us; and to them, you are food. They will take what they want from you without remorse or pity, and they won't loose sleep over whether they hurt or killed you to get it. And sometimes, as in the case at Virginia Tech, they're just nuts. They do not feel your pain. They are, however, cowards. They don't like the idea that somebody might shoot back.

I believe firmly that I have the moral and legal right, as well as the strongest obligation, to try to defend myself and my family and friends, although most of them are perfectly capable of defending themselves.

The best discussion I have seen of the morality of concealed carry, as well as many practical aspects of it, can be found at http://www.corneredcat.com/ - a website I very much recommend to anyone with an interest in concealed carry and self defense by use of handguns. It is authored by a fine lady named Kathy Jackson and is intended for women, but is very well-written and applicable for anyone. Particularly, read the parts about how all this ties in with being a Christian.

Some who read this will probably think I go around being scared and that's why I carry a gun. Not at all. But in my time, I've seen the changes in society and the world, I've seen the advent of major amounts of drug abuse, the failure of the family become widespread, and I've seen terrorists strike inside the United States. I've seen an amazing lack of manners and respect for other people become widespread. I've seen several homes broken into within a mile or so of my home, and I've seen the map showing registered sex offenders in my area (and that's the ones they know about!). If you see it is likely to rain, you get an umbrella. If you think chances are pretty good that sooner or later you're going to want to stop some baddie from doing bad things to you, you get prepared.

And I did. You should, too.

Good evening!
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Switching from Windows to Macintosh - Chapter 13

2007-04-05T10:59:00.001-05:00

Hello, World!

Still loving the Mac! I have almost eliminated any need for Windows programs. The very few I do need, I run in Parallels Desktop or on my other machine. One thing that bothered me was the lack of alternatives to Excel on the Mac. Thankfully, I've finally found one that works well. Go to http://www.neooffice.org and take a look at NeoOffice. NeoOffice is OpenOffice for the Mac. Spreadsheet support is excellent - I pulled in a multipage Excel spreadsheet, and the only thing I found a bit strange was that it changed the text I had in some graph legends, replacing it with the column and row numbers. Not bad at all. Best of all, it's free!

I mention only the spreadsheet, but NeoOffice also offers a Word compatible word processor, as well as presentation tools and a database. I am not as familiar with them, so I'll offer no comment at this point. If I had known about this suite when I bought my Mac, I could have saved $79 I spent on iWork 06.

I bought a copy of Ecto, which I've been using in trial mode to bring this up to date. It is a good program, designed to make posting or revising a blog easy.

I am still astounded that the Mac lifestyle includes leaving many programs running all the time for instant access. At this moment, I am running ten (10) programs simultaneously, and that does not include the finder or desktop. Several of these are big programs, too. The system has not detectably slowed down. I left all this running, cranked up Parallels Desktop, launching Vista, ran Solid Edge, printed a drawing, closed Solid Edge, Vista and Parallels Desktop. While I was in Vista, it downloaded and installed one of it's updates. There is no noticeable slowdown of the system, that I can tell.

I'm still amazed.

Have an excellent Easter holiday, and remember Who it's about!

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Switching from Windows to Macintosh - Chapter 12

2007-03-28T09:49:00.001-05:00

Howdy, Everybody;

The Mac transition is essentially complete - I use the Mac for pretty much everything now.

The Logitech mouse problem has been interesting. I started using the VX Revolution again after using a wired mouse for a few weeks. The spontaneous reboot problem has not reoccurred. I noticed that the Logitech control panel software does not recognize the mouse. I tried to download the Logitech Control Center program, lcc213.dmg three different times. The Mac gives me a message that the file is not a complete disk image, and mounting it might damage my computer. So now I'm of the opinion that the problem is not the hardware, but the LCC program from Logitech is probably corrupt. They have not to date reposted an uncorrupt file to their website, even though about a week ago I emailed Logitech to advise them of the problem.

I've tried the trial version of Mariner Calc, which reputes to be able to read Excel files. It was able to pull in the data and equations from an Excel spreadsheet, but lost all graphs and formatting. I'm not impressed, so I'm not going to buy this product. Sigh. I guess I can either run Excel emulated, or buy the Mac version.

Y'all have a nice day!
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Switching from Windows to Macintosh - Chapter 11

2007-03-15T09:48:00.001-05:00

Hi, Everybody!

Yesterday, installed the 10.4.9 update to Mac OS X. This went without a hitch, no problem. In reading the list of changes, I noticed the following under the Bluetooth category:
"Addresses a wake-from-sleep issue for Kensington PilotMouse Mini Bluetooth devices when used with a MacBook."
This is close enough to the problem I've had with the Logitech Revolution that I decided to try it again, so I'm using it now. I'll let you know if my reboot problem reoccurs.

Everything else is still really nice.

Have a nice day!
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Switching from Windows to Macintosh - Chapter 10

2007-03-13T07:55:00.001-05:00

Hi, Everybody!

Regarding the choice of personal information manager, I'm back at Yojimbo. I used SOHO Notes for a while, and just can't get a real comfort level with it. Yojimbo seems more smooth to me somehow.

Regarding the spontaneous reboot problem - it still hasn't happened again since I ditched the Logitech Advantage mouse in favor of a wired Logitech USB laser mouse. Not once. Draw your own conclusions.

Everything else is working well. I downloaded Ecto, which is a blog editor, and this post is being created in it. So far I like it, and if it continues to work as advertised, I'll probably buy it. Much easier editing than the web interface. But to be fair, I have used it for all of five minutes at this point.

Windows is still way more frustrating than OS X, and I now use both side by side all day long.

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The Rule of Law

2007-03-07T07:39:00.000-06:00

Howdy. How many people in our country actually believe in the rule of law?

When I get in my Jeep to go to work, I set the cruise control at the speed limit for wherever I am. I have noticed for years that, unless I am in an area where there are frequent speed traps, I get passed a lot, sometimes by people going 20 or 30 mph over the limit.

It occurs to me that all of these people (including me, sometimes) have fallen into the thinking that breaking the law is OK as long as you don't get caught.

This is operating at the maturity level of a child. Threat of punishment is the only deterent, and it only works if the threat is immediate and current.

What we should be doing instead is to live within the law whenever morally possible. We should do this because we live in a country where rule of law is the framework by which we are protected from each other and the government, and we should support this as something we need and want. It's our laws, and we should obey them. It follows that we should also be actively involved in controlling our government, as well, just out of self defense.

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Switching from Windows to Macintosh - Chapter 9

2007-03-07T07:24:00.000-06:00

This is a short entry. I have gone back to trying SOHO Notes. It works pretty much the same as Yojimbo for notes, but has one additional ability that I missed in Yojimbo - the ability to nest collections (or folders). Yojimbo has not got the ability to put a folder in a folder, and my projects can at times be pretty complex, so I need this feature.

In trying all this software, in most cases, the software doesn't leave crap littered all over the disk. One notable exception is DevonThink which did not clean up some menus it had installed- after searching the documentation I found out how to do it manually.

Regarding the spontaneous reboot problem - it still hasn't happend again since I switched to a wired mouse. I'd really prefer the Logitech Advantage - it really is a nice mouse, and wireless is good. But I'm sticking with the wired one until the system spontaneously reboots again. Absense of an event doesn't prove a correlation - but the longer you go, the higher the probability that you have found the problem.

Still loving the Mac. It's not perfect, but it's an order of magnitude better than XP. And the interface is more polished than Vista. One of the things I am liking more and more on the Mac is the fact that programs you use all the time - you just leave running. Access is pretty much instantaneous.

Have a nice day!
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Switching from Windows to Macintosh - Chapter 8

2007-03-01T11:24:00.000-06:00

Howdy, All;

The Mac is still being good to me. I've learned a few new tricks and tried some more software.

New Trick: You can use Disk Utility (part of OS X) to create a partition in a file, password protected and encrpyted, so that it acts like a file until you mount it (which requires the password). After you open it, it acts like any other drive. So I did this and put my accounting files and other secure items in it. If somebody steals my laptop, not only are they going to have to get past my login password, but they're going to be seriously hampered in their ability to do identity theft. If you want to learn how to do this, it is here: http://www.macworld.com/2006/10/secrets/decmobilemac/index.php?pf=1

About the mouse. I mentioned before that I had bought a Logitech Revolution wireless mouse for the laptop. The Mac has spontaneously rebooted, oh, probably six or seven times since I put that mouse on the system. The system has never done this unless the Revolution was involved. I noticed over time that every single time this happened, I had just done something with the mouse, either just starting to use it (waking it up) or disconnecting it or plugging it in. So something in the Logitech drivers for the Revolution wireless mouse can reboot OS X, and I think it happens if anything causes the radio communication between the mouse and it's little USB receiver to glitch. This issue does not appear to be an OS X problem or a Mac hardware problem.

So I bought a $15 USB wired mouse (also a Logitech, by the way). Problem solved, so far. Two weeks, no reboots. I'll let you know if this should change.

I've tried several different personal information management programs for the Mac. My primary need is for note storage - it needs to be very quick to enter a new note, and very quick to find it again. The programs I tested include Devonthink Pro, Yojimbo, Notebook by Circus Ponies Software, SOHO Notes by Chronos, OmniOutliner Pro and VoodooPad by Flying Meat. I'll devote a short paragraph to each one. Disclaimer: What follows is based on purely subjective opinion of one person playing with a program for an hour or so. None of these programs has been rigorously tested and this is not a formal report.

NoteBook is a very good program if you want to keep notes in a notebook format. It has a lot of neat features, such as automatically building indexes and tables of contents. This is really peachy if you plan to print out the entire notebook and use it as hardcopy, but the index and table of contents feature is not really needed in a computer environment where search capabilities exist. For me, although I like it a lot, it is not a great fit, but it is a high quality program if you like what it does. I did buy a copy and will use it for some things.

SOHO Notes - has a pretty interface but I found it very clumsy. Linking contacts to a note involves selecting a note in one window, then opening a special window, finding a contact, and telling it to link. I would really rather just drag & drop to add a link to a contact to a note. I don't find much value in the pretty contacts interface that is not in the Address Book that came with the Mac, and it's less compact. I can see some power there, but it's just too clumsy for me. I removed it from my system.

Devonthink Pro I actually tried twice, because they released a new version after I had checked it out the first time. There are things I like about this program. It can automatically classify information once you have sufficient entries in the system to act as a baseline. It offers a tree-structure of collections with items in them that could be very powerful, but I found to be unintuitive. It is possible to create notes in the tree and then not be able to find them immediately. This program would be my choice if I was primarily looking for a document control system, but it is not a great fit for me at present.

VoodooPad is a really interesting program. It is based on a Wikki concept and is very good at that. It's less good as a note manager, so it is not my primary choice, but I did buy a copy because I can see it being very useful as I create a wikiki of work-related information. It has the ability to publish a wikki as HTML, so when I get enough information in it, I will publish it to our intranet so others can easily access this data.

OmniOutliner can produce some very nicely formatted tables, and I like how it looks on screen, but it isn't really made for taking phone notes, and I do a lot of that. It is great for tabular data and lists, though. By the way, it comes 'in the box' with the Mac.

Yojimbo is the program I have settled on to use for my daily note taking. It has a clean, uncluttered interface that is easy to use and understand. I can create collections, and create notes in the collections quickly. It is easy to color code a note so you can easily see when you are done with that particular problem. If you sort it by modified timestamp, whatever you are currently working on will stay at the top of the list, and things you are finished with naturally fall down the list, so it's almost like an automatic prioritization. It is just right, without being too much, like some of the others. I haven't bought a copy yet, but I'm going to. The only feature I'd like to have that it doesn't is the ability to link contacts in Address Book with a note, preferably with drag & drop, so that when reading a note, you could click a link, and get the phone numbers of the contact. Other than that, it seems to be the best fit for me personally.

That's about it for personal information managers in the world of Mac.

Y'all have a nice day!
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